Canada resists USMCA preconditions

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa will not let Washington set the terms for the 2026 review of the North American trade pact. (reuters.com) Carney told reporters on April 22 that Canada is “not a supplicant” and said any review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement must be conducted by the three partners on equal terms. Reuters reported his comments after the United States and Mexico had already started bilateral review talks in March. (reuters.com) (ustr.gov) The review is scheduled for July 1, 2026, six years after the deal took effect on July 1, 2020. Under Article 34.7, the agreement runs until July 1, 2036 unless Canada, the United States and Mexico all agree to extend it for another 16 years. (ustr.gov) (cbsa-asfc.gc.ca) (ustr.gov) Washington has framed the review as a chance to tighten North American supply chains and reduce dependence on imports from outside the region. In March, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told negotiators to discuss stronger rules of origin and measures to shift more production into the region. (ustr.gov 1) (ustr.gov 2) Canada has been preparing for the review for more than a year and has signaled a “do no harm” approach. Ottawa’s consultation report said 137 written submissions in 2024 broadly found the agreement was working and urged Canada to avoid reopening settled parts of the pact unless necessary. (international.canada.ca 1) (international.canada.ca 2) The review lands after a rough stretch in Canada-U.S. trade relations. Statistics Canada said bilateral goods trade exceeded $1 trillion in 2024, but it also said tariff moves in 2025 hit steel, aluminum, energy and autos and disrupted supply chains. (statcan.gc.ca) (canada.ca) The process itself gives Washington leverage, but it does not create a July 1 cliff edge. A Congressional Research Service report says that if the three countries do not agree to extend the pact in 2026, they move into annual joint reviews before the agreement’s 2036 expiry date. (congress.gov) (uscode.house.gov) Canada’s chief negotiator, Janice Charette, made the same point this week, saying the July 1 review should be treated as a checkpoint rather than a breaking point. That leaves months, and potentially years, for bargaining over autos, rules of origin and other trade irritants if the three governments cannot settle everything this summer. (yahoo.com) (congress.gov) Carney’s message was that Canada will enter that bargaining without accepting a U.S.-set script. The next test is whether Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City can turn a mandatory review into an extension instead of another long negotiation. (reuters.com) (ustr.gov)