TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s ambassador to the United States for the past six years said Tuesday she will resign next year as the two major trading partners plan to review a free trade agreement.
Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said in a letter that now is the perfect time to appoint someone to oversee negotiations for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Hillman “lay the groundwork for Canada’s upcoming review of the agreement.”
Carney noted that she is one of the longest-serving ambassadors to the United States in Canadian history.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Hillman in 2017. She is the first woman appointed to the position.
Hillman helped lead trade negotiations during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term and worked with U.S. and Chinese officials to secure the release of two Canadians detained in China.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, and Hillman have been leading trade negotiations with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Trump ended trade talks with Carney in October after the Ontario government unsettled the U.S. president by running anti-tariff ads in the United States. Previously, Trump’s insistence that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state sparked a heated argument that later eased.
Asked this week when trade talks would resume, Trump said, “We’ll see.”
Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, with more than 75% of Canada’s exports going to the United States. Most exports to the United States are exempt from the USMCA trade agreement, but that agreement is under review.
Carney aims to double non-U.S. trade over the next decade.
About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports also come from Canada.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the United States and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon desires and invests in due to national security concerns.
