Canada urges 16-year renewal of US-Mexico-Canada trade pact

Canada has formally recommended that the United States and Mexico renew the trilateral trade agreement between the nations for another 16 years. The recommendation was conveyed in a letter from Canada’s Minister for U.S. Trade, Dominic LeBlanc, to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, on Tuesday.

The letter initiates a mandatory review process for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as CUSMA in Canada. In the correspondence, LeBlanc stated the agreement is highly beneficial to the integrated North American economy and argued that renewal would provide the certainty essential for businesses, workers, and consumers in all three countries. He also emphasized that parallel discussions on addressing specific sectoral tariffs would be essential.

LeBlanc traveled to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, accompanied by Canada’s Chief Trade Negotiator, Janice Charette, for a scheduled meeting with Greer. This meeting follows the start of bilateral negotiations between the United States and Mexico last week, a process from which Canada was initially absent. Prime Minister Mark Carney explained that U.S. negotiators are pursuing...