LeBlanc said Canada is seeking clarity after the US voted for the annual CUSMA – National review

Days after the Trump administration decided to require an annual review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement instead of renewing the agreement as it is currently until 2042, the Canadian government says there remains significant uncertainty about the next steps in trade negotiations.

“We don’t have any more certainty about the annual review process because this is uncharted territory. It’s not typical for an agreement of this nature,” Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a telephone interview Friday.

LeBlanc said he asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer how he intended to structure discussions as part of the annual review. He said the request was made together with Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

“There was no response at the meeting.… It was agreed that we would continue talks over the coming weeks,” the minister said of the July 1 meeting, when the United States confirmed it would conduct an annual review of CUSMA.

Canada and Mexico hope the agreement, in its current form, will remain in effect for another 16 years. Instead, Washington wants change, and says the current version is working as intended.

The US decision sets in motion a renewable annual review process that can last up to 10 years. At the end of that term, the agreement will expire if no way forward is found to extend the agreement beyond its 2036 expiration date.

“At the end of the talks (July 1), we suggested implementing structure and rigor in America’s proposed review process,” LeBlanc said.

Exactly how the annual review will be conducted remains to be determined.

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Ebrard said in a video posted to X on July 1 that a roadmap outlining what would be included in the annual review had not yet been determined.

“We are in no rush, but we are also not interested in uncertainty,” he said in Spanish.

So far, CUSMA has protected Canada and Mexico from most tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump because there are still broad exemptions for goods that comply with the agreement.

But those protections are not yet complete, and Canada and Mexico are each seeking bilateral agreements with the United States alongside three-party negotiations.

From Canada’s perspective, these bilateral negotiations could help reduce US tariffs that fall outside the protections of CUSMA, including tariffs on steel, aluminum and softwood lumber.

When asked Friday how Canada would differentiate between the issues that would be addressed through the CUSMA annual review and those that would be addressed in bilateral talks, LeBlanc acknowledged he didn’t have all the answers yet.

“One of the difficulties since Trump’s arrival is precisely this uncertainty,” he said. “The aim of our talks with America is, of course, to reduce sectoral tariffs that are detrimental to the economies of the three countries and, at the same time, try to bring predictability or rigor to the talks regarding the CUSMA review.”

Mexico is expected to host a US delegation the week of July 20 as part of its bilateral negotiations with the US

Canada has not announced a date for a similar meeting.

In this regard, LeBlanc said he was encouraged because on the same day as the July 1 meeting, Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Goettman contacted Canada’s chief negotiator, Janice Charette, “to discuss the agenda for subsequent bilateral discussions.”

“That is to discuss their next meeting in Washington in the coming weeks,” the minister said.

He also said that he and Greer agreed to “immediately resume bilateral discussions.”

“Over – I think – the next few weeks,” he added.

“I remain confident that we will reach a bilateral agreement and we will reduce the uncertainty surrounding the CUSMA review, but we will make efforts over the summer to put ourselves in that position,” LeBlanc said.

When asked whether Ottawa was concerned the Trump administration would use bilateral talks to undermine the shared relationship between Canada and Mexico during trilateral discussions, LeBlanc said he was not overly concerned.

“My conversation on July 1 was encouraging because all three countries recognized the importance of having a North American economy that is able to compete with other economic blocs in other parts of the world,” he said. “One of the common points we discussed, for example, was how the North American economy has an integrated supply chain that can compete with other regions of the world that we compete with.”

LeBlanc said he had heard that, several years ago, the idea of ​​weakening the united front “was a scenario that came up in discussions.” At the time, CUSMA was being negotiated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement after the Trump administration first threatened to withdraw from the agreement while pushing for renegotiations.

“That didn’t happen,” he said. “We have the same problems with Mexico, as well as different bilateral problems.”

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