he Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is back in Washington this week as Ottawa seeks to avoid the imposition of punishing new tariffs on Aug. 19 and move broader trade discussions forward. A triple-bylined item led by Marieke Walsh says Mr. LeBlanc flew to the U.S. capital on Monday along with chief trade negotiator Janice Charette for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, Mr. LeBlanc attended late U.S. senator Lindsey Graham's funeral alongside Canada's ambassador to the U.S. Mark Wiseman. Mr. LeBlanc and Mr. Wiseman later attended a "Canada-U.S. Friendship Day" event where Washington's baseball team was playing the Blue Jays. Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the two governments had agreed to intensify talks after U.S. President Donald Trump said that his administration would impose additional 50-per-cent tariffs on around $20-billion (U.S.) worth of Canadian exports. The Section 338 tariffs are explicitly aimed at getting Canada to back down on several retaliatory measures taken over the past year in response to earlier U.S. tariffs, including provincial bans on U.S. alcohol sales and Ottawa's retaliatory tariffs on American vehicles.