Trump ‘not looking to renew’ CUSMA trade pact

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is “not looking to renew” a critical continental trade pact, indicating the United States will blow past a July 1 deadline for renewal.

If the deadline passes, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA, stays in place subject to an annual rolling review for up to 10 years.

“We don’t need anything that Canada has, we don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And they should have to treat us better.”

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Mexico’s secretary of economy, Marcelo Ebrard, sent letters to the U.S. administration last week calling for a 16-year extension of the agreement. The Trump administration did not make its intentions public at the time.

Trump’s Wednesday comments support speculation that the United States will choose the non-renewal and non-withdrawal option, which triggers the annual review.

Members of the Trump administration have long been signalling that the United States was looking at lengthy negotiations with its closest neighbours. The president could also give six months’ notice that the United States is pulling out of the agreement — but public comments from Trump’s trade team suggest that scenario is much less likely.

Trump complained Wednesday about the trade deficit the U.S. has with Canada — which is caused by Canadian energy exports — and claimed the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian or Mexican cars, lumber or energy.

Trump said the U.S. does better economically when it is autonomous.

CUSMA was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement but the president has since called it “irrelevant.” Trump said Wednesday CUSMA was great deal because it gave the partners the right to “terminate.”

The trade agreement has shielded Canada and Mexico from many of Trump’s tariffs. The current 10 per cent global tariff does not apply to goods that are compliant under CUSMA.

Canada and Mexico are still being slammed by Trump’s separate tariffs on sectors like steel, aluminum and automobiles.

While official CUSMA trade negotiations between Ottawa and Washington have yet to begin, talks between the United States and Mexico have started.

Trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa were frozen last October after Trump was angered by an Ontario-funded advertisement quoting former U.S. president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. The relationship has started to thaw in recent months.

LeBlanc and Canada’s chief trade negotiator Janice Charette met with United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington last week. LeBlanc said he left the meeting optimistic and the Canadian side is focused on the work.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Washington has “technical issues” with Mexico and 30 trade issues with Canada of “varying technicality.”

The original CUSMA negotiations were a key test for Ottawa. Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s trade representative at the time, recounted in his book how at one point during the process the two countries weren’t speaking and “NAFTA was hanging on by a thread.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Wednesday “there is going to be a lot of rhetoric that will occur as we go through this review process,” adding Canadian leaders are squarely focused on getting a good deal.

“We won’t be responding to daily comments that come out of the White House or even at times (that) come out of various levels of Canadian leadership as well,” he told reporters in Calgary after a speech at the Global Energy Show.

By Kelly Geraldine Malone

— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa and Lauren Krugel in Calgary