Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer next week in Washington, D.C.

The discussion comes as both countries prepare for the mandatory review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

LeBlanc told the Canadian Club Toronto that he’s “not pessimistic” about the future of the trilateral trade deal because the U.S. maintained an exemption when President Donald Trump announced new tariffs recently.

“So, they’re doing that because it’s in the American economic interest to do that,” he said. “American business leaders and American business associations are also speaking up more now than perhaps six months ago.”

The minister added American officials have been engaged in a “political argument” about trade in public, but insisted that’s not the case behind closed doors.

“There is a public prosecution of the argument, the political argument in the United States, and there are the private government-to-government-to-government conversations, which are not discouraging,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc, who recently returned from a trade mission to Mexico, told the Canadian Club Toronto that both Canada and Mexico want to see the U.S. commit to USMCA.

The minister added that while both countries want to see a healthy trilateral trade deal, Canada and Mexico are looking for more opportunities to trade directly with each other.

Canada is still feeling the impact of sectoral U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber, and the auto sector.

– The Canadian Press contributed to this article.