TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Canada鈥檚 minister for U.S. trade said Thursday the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement could be subject to annual review and that uncertainty could be the objective of the Trump administration.
Dominic LeBlanc told a business audience in Toronto that he will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer late next week in Washington ahead of the mandatory review of in July.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 no consensus in the review the agreement continues. Then there鈥檚 an annual review that starts and if uncertainty is one of the objectives from one of our (USMCA) partners you can imagine scenarios of how this might go,鈥� LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc said the current uncertainty about the future of the free trade deal is causing a break in investment decisions in Canada.
鈥淣et business investment is down,鈥� LeBlanc said. 鈥淭herein lies one of the big challenges. We have to control what we can control.鈥�
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has set a goal for Canada to . exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment. Carney recently made a trade deal with China and is in India this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated the USMCA in his first term and included a clause to review the deal in 2026.
Trump has talked about getting the U.S. automakers to close factories in Canada and move them to the U.S. and Greer has talked about 鈥渞eshoring鈥� industrial production.
LeBlanc said he鈥檚 鈥渘ot pessimistic鈥� about the future of the trade deal because the U.S. maintained an exemption for Canada and Mexico under the deal when Trump announced new tariffs recently.
鈥淪o, they鈥檙e doing that because it鈥檚 in the American economic interest to do that,鈥� he said.
Most of Canada鈥檚 exports to the U.S. . But tariffs are of Canada鈥檚 economy, particularly aluminum, steel, auto and lumber.
LeBlanc said he felt Canada was close to getting a deal on sectoral tariffs in the fall, before Trump abruptly ended talks in response to an
LeBlanc said Trump administration officials have been engaged in a 鈥減olitical argument鈥� about trade in public but insisted that鈥檚 not the case behind closed doors.
鈥淭here is a public prosecution of the argument, the political argument in the United States, and there are the private government-to-government-to-government conversations, which are not discouraging,鈥� LeBlanc said.
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