OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says he doesn’t expect any resolution Wednesday to the ongoing talks about whether to renew or review the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.
“We’re expecting a constructive exchange,” Carney told reporters in Kuujjuaq, Que. on Tuesday ahead of an Inuit–Crown Partnership Committee meeting. “I wouldn’t expect any drama tomorrow. I’m not looking for my pen.”
Wednesday is an important deadline for the trilateral trade deal. By July 1, officials in all three countries must notify their counterparts whether they want to renew CUSMA for a 16-year period. If any of the three parties don’t vote to extend, an annual review process kicks in for the next 10 years.
Now, while Canada and Mexico have both formally declared they want a 16-year extension of the deal, the U.S. position remains unclear, and officials are set to meet virtually Wednesday on the official deadline day.
Canada and the U.S., meanwhile, have been in the throes of a protracted trade war since last February, when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports. While the vast majority of Canadian goods are exempt from the levies because they’re covered under CUSMA, a slate of sectoral tariffs remain in place.
Following the G7 Leaders’ Summit in France earlier this month, Trump said he would rather leave CUSMA unsigned and have it immediately terminated, though he also signalled he may sign the deal.
And, speaking to reporters in Ottawa last week, Carney said Canada will work with the U.S. and Mexico to “modernize” the agreement — seemingly indicating changes would be coming — adding he won’t accept a bad deal from Trump.
Any of the three countries are also able to pull out of the deal entirely with six months’ notice. Despite Trump’s previous comments that he would prefer CUSMA not exist at all, saying he thinks the United States is better off without it, neither he nor his deputies have given any indication that they want to terminate it.
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello and Stephanie Ha
