OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney heard from a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators on Monday that he should seek to “reinvigorate” discussions about the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement as he faces pressure to close a deal with the White House by Aug. 1.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to
impose a blanket tariff of 35 per cent starting next month
on Canadian goods entering his country, barring him and Carney coming up with a new economic and security agreement before that date.
Carney met on Parliament Hill first thing in the morning with Democratic senators Rob Wyden from Oregon, Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada, as well as Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, to discuss Canada’s ongoing trade war with the U.S.
Murkowski is one of the only Republican senators who has been openly critical of the Trump administration.
Speaking after the meeting, Wyden said the first step to bring stability to the Canada-U.S. economic relationship is to try to “reinvigorate” CUSMA — known as USMCA on the U.S. side — and said the other visiting senators share his view.
“This is something that we’ve had a considerable amount of success with since it was written during the (first) Trump administration, and we ought to strengthen it. We ought to build it, not get rid of it,” Wyden said.
CUSMA is scheduled for review in 2026. Over the weekend, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he expects Trump will want to renegotiate the existing agreement next year.
“It makes perfect sense for the president to renegotiate it,” Lutnick told
CBS News in an interview that aired on Sunday
. “He wants to protect American jobs. He doesn’t want cars built in Canada or Mexico when they could be built in Michigan and Ohio.”
Wyden did not specify what he meant exactly by reinvigorating the existing trade deal, or if it meant in his view an early review or renegotiation ahead of next year’s deadline.
“At the end of the day, you are our best friends, and the relationship is going through some great strain,” said Hassan, whose state, New Hampshire, has long been a tourist destination for Canadians.
“But we do think that the framework of the USMCA gives us an opportunity to, kind of in one framework, come together and improve on something that was a great bipartisan success back in 2018,” she added.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand also took part in the meeting with the U.S. senators and detailed her vision of the upcoming CUSMA talks.
Murkowski said the terminology Anand used in talking about CUSMA was “very instructive.” According to her, the minister said she wishes to operate within the current framework and that their countries already “have the frame… to make it work.”
Carney has already lowered expectations about Canada being able to strike a tariff-free deal with the U.S. but reiterated most of Canada’s exports would be spared.
While he said the most affected sectors — steel, aluminum, autos and forestry — are now subject to high tariff rates when entering the U.S., he said the “vast majority” of Canadian goods and services will continue to remain tariff-free as they are exempted under CUSMA.
Lutnick echoed that message on Sunday, telling CBS News that 75 per cent of Canadian imports are exempt from tariffs under the existing agreement and that any additional tariffs would only apply to the remaining 25 per cent of Canadian goods.
Despite that rhetoric, U.S. senators said they have been hearing from their constituents and businesses that many projects are on hold pending a deal between both countries.
On top of using CUSMA talks as a negotiation item to restore trade relations more broadly, Wyden said Carney was “receptive” to his suggestions of passing a law to permanently rescind the digital services tax, which Carney stopped from taking effect this month, and of
potentially subjecting Canadian softwood lumber exports to the U.S. to a quota
.
Hassan said they also spoke with Carney about stopping the flow of precursor chemicals that are used to make fentanyl to both countries. They also discussed lessons learned in the U.S. to stop the demand for the deadly drug and helping drug users end their addictions.
After his meeting with the U.S. senators, Carney met in Ottawa with King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss defence and security issues in the Middle East, as well as trade opportunities between their two countries.
On Tuesday, Carney will be joining Canada’s premiers in Ontario’s cottage country
for a meeting of the Council of the Federation.
National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com
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