By Promit Mukherjee

OTTAWA, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Canada and the U.S. are still far from reaching a draft trade deal despite regular meetings, Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister ‌responsible for trade with the U.S., told an advisory committee on Friday, according ‌to a source directly briefed on the matter.

LeBlanc is in Washington with his chief trade negotiator and a team ​of officials for discussions as the August 19 deadline approaches for the start of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 50% tariffs.

LeBlanc has stepped up his engagement with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, meeting him four times in three weeks. LeBlanc’s office said he will be staying in Washington for ‌the weekend as trade talks continue.

The ⁠tariffs would cover nearly $20 billion of Canadian goods, or about 5.2% of Canada’s exports to the U.S.

Unlike many of Trump’s earlier tariffs, the new ⁠duties would apply to products that qualify for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, posing an added risk to Canada’s economy.

LeBlanc said in a briefing to the Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations that meetings are ​happening with ​his U.S. counterparts on a daily basis, the ​source said.

“They said they’re quite far ‌away from an agreement that the Prime Minister can sign off on,” the source said. “In negotiations like this, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

The source added that LeBlanc told the committee the two sides are meeting at a technical level constantly but have not yet reached agreement on key issues.

Gabriel Brunet, a spokesperson for LeBlanc, declined to comment.

Candace Laing, CEO of the ‌Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a member of the ​advisory committee briefed by LeBlanc, said both sides are ​aiming for an interim agreement that would ​resolve both some previously imposed U.S. tariffs and the looming 50% tariffs.

She ‌said multiple meetings are planned over the ​weekend between the parties.

LeBlanc ​also briefed Canada’s provincial and territorial trade ministers on the progress of negotiations on Friday.

Key issues for the U.S. include Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, disagreements over how ​dairy quotas should be allocated, and ‌refusal of some Canadian provinces to stock U.S. alcohol. Canada wants U.S. tariffs ​on its steel and aluminum to be lowered.

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and David ​Ljunggren; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Edmund Klamann)