Leaders From The United States, Canada, And Mexico Meet Briefly On USMCA Renewal

After an event meant to celebrate the upcoming FIFA World Cup soccer championship that will be staged next year across North America, Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met briefly to discuss the future of the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is currently up for review.

While few details emerged from the private meeting, Canadian government spokesperson Audrey Champoux said the three leaders “agreed to keep working together” on renewal of the trade pact.

In related news: as The Wall Street Journal reported, last week the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative held hearings about the review of USMCA and, in the Oval Office, President Trump said the U.S. government would either let the trade treaty expire “or we’ll maybe work out another deal with Mexico and Canada.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also addressed USCMA renewal and other trade policy matters in an interview last week with Politico.

In those remarks, he also raised the possibility that the U.S. government could simply decide to try to reach bilateral trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, rather than renew the USMCA. “The president’s view is he only wants deals that are a good deal,” Ambassador Greer said. “The reason why we built a review period into USMCA was in case we needed to revise it, review it or exit it. I have heard from a lot of folks how important USMCA is. Canada and Mexico are huge export markets for us. I was in the White House yesterday, and we were talking about USMCA. What about Mexico? What about Canada? You know, the possibility that we kind of negotiate separately with them, right? Their economies are subject to it.”