WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump is not trying to spark a trade war with U.S. neighbours like Canada, one of his chief lieutenants said Tuesday.

“Our goal is to increase overall trade while reducing our trade deficit. We do not seek a trade war with anyone, least of all with our fellow citizens of the Americas,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told an annual Americas conference at the State Department headquarters in Washington.

Ross made his remarks amid heightened trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada in the run-up to a probable renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump accused Canadian politicians in April of taking advantage of American leaders, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Columbia Premier Christy Clark threatened last week to retaliate against the U.S. over its newly announced duties on Canadian softwood lumber.

As always, it was not clear whether Trump’s cabinet official spoke for Trump himself: the president has shrugged off concerns about a possible trade war with Canada. And even Ross has previously sounded eager for a global battle, saying in March that the U.S. has been in a quiet trade war “for decades” and is now merely sending “troops.”

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Ross did nothing on Tuesday to clarify U.S. goals for a future NAFTA negotiation. He said the administration has not even decided yet on the most fundamental preliminary issue: whether it wants to stick with a three-country deal or pursue separate two-country deals with Canada and Mexico.

In April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to stand up for Canadian interests after the United States imposed new tariffs on softwood lumber and trade tensions between the two countries escalated, sending the Canadian dollar to a 14-month low.

“At this early stage, we’re focused on substance rather than form,” he said.

Speaking later in the afternoon, Canada’s International Trade Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said the Trudeau government prefers a single three-country deal. Champagne emphasized what he said was an increasingly close relationship between Canada and Mexico.

Ross made one thing clear: the administration wants to move at lightning speed. Prospects for completing a deal will become more remote as the Mexican presidential election of July 2018 and then the U.S. congressional election of November 2018 get closer.

But Trump is being slowed by the pro-trade faction of his own party, which is delaying the necessary confirmation of the man he has chosen as his chief trade representative. Arizona Sen. John McCain told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that he is holding up the vote on Robert Lighthizer until he gets “the answers” on Lighthizer’s personal positions.

“It has a lot to do with whether a trade representative is for free trade or not. Or whether they want to be further isolationists and destroy our economy,” McCain said.

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A growing majority of Republican voters disagree. Though the party’s lawmakers are still largely pro-trade, a poll released Tuesday suggests many of their voters have been swayed by Trump’s fierce antipathy: just 30 per cent of Republicans now favour NAFTA, compared to 68 per cent of Democrats.

There was no such partisan divide in Canada. Eighty-three per cent of Liberals, 82 per cent of Conservatives and 72 per cent of New Democrats said the deal has helped Canada, Pew Research found.

The prime minister is pledging to respectfully fight for Canada?s interests, after protectionist comments by U.S. President Donald Trump. Justin Trudeau said Apr. 21 that he would ?continue to defend? supply management in Canadian agriculture.

Ross said Trump would “soon” send Congress the formal notice required to launch a 90-day countdown to the beginning of NAFTA talks. In March, though, he had said he hoped to do so within two weeks.

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