Trade agreement talks unlikely to be resolved by July 1: U.S. trade representative

WASHINGTON — United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday that he doesn’t expect negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade to be resolved by July 1.

“I think that we aren’t probably going to be able to resolve all issues by July 1,” Greer said at the Washington-based Hudson Institute. “But I think we are on track to resolve many of them and to move as quickly as we can.”

July is the required deadline for the United States to notify Canada and Mexico about its plans for the trilateral trade pact, known as CUSMA.

The CUSMA review sets up a three-way choice for each country. They can renew the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from it or signal both non-renewal and non-withdrawal — which triggers an annual review that could keep negotiations going for up to a decade.

CUSMA — which was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement — has shielded Canada and Mexico from the worst impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. His worldwide 10 per cent duty does not apply to goods that comply with the trade agreement.

Canada is still being slammed by Trump’s separate tariffs on industries like steel, aluminum, autos, lumber and cabinets.

The future of the continental trade agreement has been left in doubt by Trump’s comments. He has called CUSMA irrelevant and has said it may have served its purpose.

Greer previously has floated the idea of abandoning the trade pact in favour of two separate bilateral agreements.

On Tuesday, Greer said a public consultation process heard from many stakeholders expressing support for the trade pact, while others said it did not go far enough to fix issues under NAFTA.

Greer said the Trump administration’s baseline is that “things have to be changed.”

“President Trump has been clear that he is dissatisfied with a lot the outcomes of (CUSMA),” Greer said.

Greer said CUSMA incentivized automobile production in North America but pointed to an increase in vehicle imports from Mexico.

Under the original CUSMA negotiations, Greer said there was a “gentleman’s agreement” that there would not be hard quotas for steel and aluminum. Greer said the U.S. expected Canada and Mexico to “stick to historic levels of shipments of aluminum and steel” and “they didn’t keep to those.”

Greer, however, said there are “load-bearing pillars” in the North American trade deal that work well.

The Trump administration began its formal negotiations with Mexico last month, but official talks between Canada and the United States have not launched.

Greer, who previously claimed talks with Canada were lagging behind, did not give an answer on Tuesday when asked about when negotiations with Ottawa may launch.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said that conversations with his American counterparts have been productive since resuming last month.

Trump had cut off all talks with Canada in October after he was angered by an Ontario-sponsored advertisement that quoted former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.

Greer did not specify what was on the negotiating table, beyond Canada’s dairy supply management system, in his talk at the Hudson Institute.

An annual document prepared by Greer’s office that was released last week points to provincial rules around alcohol, the federal government’s “Buy Canadian” policy, and delays with aircraft validation in Canada as additional trade irritants.

Ottawa has been making inroads with its counterparts in Mexico. LeBlanc led a large trade mission to Mexico in February and a Mexican trade delegation is set to travel to Canada in May.

LeBlanc last week said the Mexicans are also committed to a trilateral deal.

“We’ve also said all along that there will be a bilateral element to these discussions and there will also be a trilateral element,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2026.

— with files from Catherine Morrison and Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press