Dominic LeBlanc, the minister handling the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) renegotiations, is heading to Washington, D.C., for meetings on Friday, his office says.
This comes following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comments out of Australia, stating that the free trade agreement “effectively has been broken in the short term by U.S. actions.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed repeated rounds of tariffs on countries around the world, as well as steep sectoral tariffs on Canadian industries, including steel and aluminum, lumber and others.
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Carney also said that “this government is very worried about the future of the bilateral relationship with the United States, the consequences of a zombie CUSMA or the shredding of CUSMA,” referring to the trade pact.
He said certain protocols under CUSMA weren’t followed when the United States imposed tariffs on Canada.
Carney said Canada is looking to this year’s CUSMA review as a process to “re-establish the trust” individuals, businesses and investors need to guide trade between the nations.
LeBlanc’s visit lands with the review of the CUSMA agreement on trade in full swing.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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