Canada Rejects U.S. Control Over USMCA Review

Prime Minister Mark Carney said on April 22 that Canada will not let Washington set the terms of the 2026 review of the North American trade pact. (reuters.com) Carney said Canada is “not a supplicant” in the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is scheduled for July 1, 2026 under the pact’s six-year review clause. (reuters.com; ustr.gov) That clause does not automatically reopen the whole deal. Article 34.7 says the three governments meet after six years, decide whether to extend the agreement for another 16 years, and keep reviewing annually if they do not all agree. (ustr.gov; international.gc.ca) The timing is sensitive because U.S. officials have already started bilateral review talks with Mexico. On March 5, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard launched discussions focused on tighter rules of origin, lower dependence on imports from outside North America, and supply-chain security. (ustr.gov; ustr.gov) Canada is pushing back as the trade stakes remain large. Statistics Canada says Canada exported C$596.2 billion in merchandise to the United States in 2024 and imported C$471.3 billion, while the U.S. trade office says total U.S.-Canada goods trade reached $719.5 billion in 2025. (statcan.gc.ca; ustr.gov) The review is also shadowed by an unresolved fight over auto content rules. A USMCA dispute panel ruled in December 2022 that the U.S. interpretation of automotive rules of origin was inconsistent with the agreement, and a Congressional Research Service brief says the issue is still viewed as a likely topic in the 2026 review. (congress.gov; clarkhill.com) In trade law, rules of origin are the tests that decide whether a car or part counts as North American and qualifies for lower tariffs. They matter because even small changes can shift production, sourcing, and jobs across the three countries. (congress.gov; ustr.gov) Washington has framed the review in harder terms than Ottawa has. In testimony to Congress in December 2025, Greer said the review mechanism was designed so the United States would not be stuck with “outdated rules,” echoing the original Trump-era case for preserving U.S. leverage. (ustr.gov) Carney’s position points to a basic fight over process before the formal review even begins: whether the United States can negotiate separately with Mexico and present Canada with a narrower set of choices later. Ottawa is signaling now that it plans to contest that approach at the July 1 review rather than accept it. (reuters.com; ustr.gov)