Quebec Premier Meets U.S. Trade Rep on CUSMA Renewal

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington on Monday to defend provincial interests ahead of upcoming negotiations to renew the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, known as CUSMA in Canada and USMCA in the U.S.

The one-hour discussion, added last-minute to Fréchette's first official foreign trip since taking office 12 days earlier, focused on Quebec's supply management system for dairy and poultry producers, which limits imports, as well as the province's language laws requiring French labeling on products. U.S. officials have repeatedly identified both as trade barriers and called for their removal. Fréchette told reporters afterward that Greer did not challenge Canada's supply management approach. "He didn't press that point," she said. "Does that mean he agrees with me? I wouldn't go that far, but he didn't press the issue."

Fréchette, who began her visit with a meeting at the Canadian embassy with Ambassador Mark Wiseman, also held a roundtable with business representatives, including those from the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association and General Motors. She planned later private discussions...