Canada's minister with responsibility for Canada-U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, is scheduled to meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday, the minister's office said on Monday. Janice Charette, Canada's Chief Trade Negotiator to the United States, will accompany LeBlanc to the meeting.
The announcement follows Canada's exclusion from last week's bilateral talks between the United States and Mexico on revising the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). LeBlanc's office did not provide details on the agenda for Tuesday's discussions.
Officials from the United States and Mexico concluded their first round of bilateral negotiations on Friday. According to the U.S. Trade Representative's office, those talks dealt with automotive rules of origin, steel and aluminum trade, and economic security.
Canada has not yet begun formal negotiations on revisions to the three-party trade pact. The agreement is subject to a required review by July 1. If the three parties do not agree to extend the existing terms, the accord would shift to annual reviews through 2036.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has signaled that Canada may need to accept some form of tariffs in order to participate in discussions with the United States over the agreement's revision. Greer has also stated that a revised USMCA should include tighter automotive rules of origin and should increase access for U.S. businesses to Canadian markets, citing dairy as one example.
Details on how Tuesday's meeting might affect the timeline for Canada's formal entry into talks, or whether it will resolve the questions raised by the U.S.-Mexico bilateral session, were not provided in the statement from LeBlanc's office.
Context and next steps
- Canada's participation status: Ottawa has not started formal negotiations on USMCA revisions.
- Key issues in earlier talks: automotive rules of origin, steel and aluminum trade, and economic security were discussed by the U.S. and Mexico.
- Timeline pressure: the pact must be reviewed by July 1, or it will move to annual reviews until 2036 if no extension is agreed.
No additional information was released about the objectives for Tuesday's meeting between LeBlanc, Charette, and Greer.