Canada seeks USMCA renewal for 16 years, sector tariff discussions

Canada has written to the United States and Mexico with its recommendations to renew a trilateral trade agreement for 16 years while seeking parallel talks on sectoral tariffs before a meeting between Canadian and US trade negotiators later in the day.

Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-US trade, Dominic LeBlanc, outlined his suggestions in a letter on Tuesday. He is due to meet US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later in the day, after Canada was left out of bilateral trade talks between the US and Mexico last week. The country’s chief trade negotiator to the US, Janice Charette, will accompany him.

“The Joint Review process provides us an opportunity to review the Agreement to assess whether there are ways to strengthen it and consider where improvements may be warranted to keep up with evolving economic conditions,” the letter said.

The letter also noted that, in parallel with reviewing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), addressing sectoral tariffs will be essential.

The US imposed tariffs on steel, aluminium, and cars that have hurt Canada’s economy.

This will be LeBlanc’s second meeting with Greer after their first meeting in March, although they have spoken occasionally over the phone, including last week, the government has said.

Businesses have criticised Canada for being slow to begin the USMCA review process — which must officially be completed by July 1 — while Mexico has been more proactively engaging with the US administration.

Trump suspended all talks with Canada late last year after the province of Ontario aired an advertisement featuring former President Ronald Reagan warning that tariffs lead to trade wars.