Four U.S. senators recently met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline to strike a Canada-U.S. trade and security deal, Politico reported.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., met with Carney for 45 minutes on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday.
"We are bridge builders, not people who throw wrenches," Wyden told reporters upon leaving the meeting.
Wyden said senators are looking at renegotiating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which he wants reinvigorated.
"This is something that we've had a considerable amount of success with since it was written during the [first] Trump administration, and we ought to strengthen it," Wyden said. "We ought to build it, not get rid of it."
The Oregon senator said he supported Carney's decision not to collect a digital service tax from American tech companies and called for Parliament to pass a law making it permanent.
Hassan tried to offer an olive branch to Canada. Relations have become strained amid President Donald Trump enacting reciprocal tariffs on Canada and saying the country should become the 51st state.
"We know that the instability in our relationship right now has meant that some Canadians have decided to stay away from their favorite American tourist spots, and we hope you will come back," Hassan said. "And it's not just that we miss your business, which, of course, every good businessperson does, but we miss your friendship."
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