OTTAWA, February 26 (Reuters) – Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade said on Thursday that private government-to-government conversations between the United States, Mexico and Canada about an upcoming review of the USMCA trade agreement are not discouraging.
Canada is preparing to begin formal trade negotiations with the United States as part of a planned review that needs to be completed by July 1, 2026.
President Donald Trump has said the United States may withdraw from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and strike separate deals with Canada and Mexico.
“This argument, the political argument, is being prosecuted in the United States,” federal minister Dominic LeBlanc told a Toronto business audience. “And it’s not a frustrating conversation between private government and government.”
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by David Ljunggren and Nia Williams)