Canada has formally notified the U.S. and Mexico that it wants CUSMA renewed as the trilateral trade agreement heads into a July 1 review.
Canada has formally notified the United States and Mexico that it wants the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement renewed when the North American trade pact comes up for review on July 1.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the request in a letter to his American and Mexican counterparts, calling CUSMA "highly beneficial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy," while acknowledging that the other governments may seek "improvements."
The notice comes as LeBlanc is in Washington for a Tuesday meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, a member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet. For Ottawa, a central issue in the talks is relief from Trump’s tariffs, which Prime Minister Mark Carney has described as a violation of the agreement.
Greer has repeatedly said, including last week, that tariffs are a new reality Canada will have to live with. Signals from the White House over the past year and a half have pointed away from a simple renewal and toward substantial changes, including on auto exports and access to Canada’s dairy market.
CBC reported that the Trump administration wants the agreement amended so that at least 50 per cent of a vehicle’s content must be made in the U.S. to qualify for tariff-free access to the American market, citing a Wall Street Journal report.
The meeting is only the second face-to-face session between LeBlanc and Greer since October, when Trump scrapped talks with Canada, citing an anti-tariff television advertisement by Ontario’s government. The U.S., meanwhile, held two days of formal CUSMA talks with Mexico last week and has two more rounds scheduled in June and July.
Carney downplayed Mexico’s head start, telling reporters on Parliament Hill that the U.S. has almost 60 CUSMA-related issues with Mexico, about twice as many as it has with Canada. He said U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and forest products remain a fundamental issue between Ottawa and Washington.
“We’re looking to determine whether there’s a possibility of a new partnership there,” Carney said.
CUSMA covers roughly $1.3 trillion in annual Canada-U.S. trade in goods and services and currently protects a large share of Canadian exports from Trump’s tariffs. Under the agreement, the three countries must say by July 1, six years after it took effect, whether they want to renew it or renegotiate it.
The deal is scheduled to remain in force until 2036 regardless of what happens on July 1, though any of the three countries can withdraw with six months’ notice.
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