Prime Minister Mark Carney during Question Period in Ottawa on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has struck a new Canada-U.S. advisory committee to offer guidance as a potentially rocky review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement gets under way.
The Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations will be chaired by Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister for Canada-U.S. trade relations. It includes former politicians and Canadians with experience in business, investment, trade and labour. It has 24 members, not including Mr. LeBlanc.
Members include former Quebec premier Jean Charest, former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole, former Liberal cabinet minister Ralph Goodale, as well as several chief executives, including BMO Financial Group’s Darryl White, CN Rail’s Tracy Robinson, TC Energy’s François Poirier and Nutrien’s Ken Seitz.
Other committee members include Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association president Flavio Volpe, Canadian Chamber of Commerce CEO Candace Laing and Unifor national president Lana Payne.
Analysis: Canada and Mexico on different paths heading into USMCA crunch time
Since taking office in early 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a slew of tariffs on Canada. While products traded under USMCA rules are exempt, that hasn’t shielded steel, aluminum and autos from damaging levies.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the committee will serve as a “forum for expertise and strategy on all aspects of the Canada-U.S. economic relationship” and its first meeting will be April 27.
“Canada’s new government is forging a new economic and security relationship with the United States,” the office said in a statement.
The committee contains representation from a range of Canadian industries with a stake in the trade talks: mining and metals, automobiles, forestry, energy, agriculture, transportation, banking and entertainment.
The list contains at least one notable absence: Representation from the executives or experts in the digital economy. This even though the U.S. has made clear that digital issues will feature prominently in the USMCA talks, including discussion around Canada’s online streaming act and data sovereignty.
“The digital/intangible economy is 92 per cent of the value of the S&P 500 and Canada has a longstanding productivity crisis, but Carney doesn’t see fit to include an expert from this area or a domestic scale-up CEO on his new Canada-U.S. Economic Relations Committee,” Jim Balsillie, the former CEO of BlackBerry and chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators, wrote in an email. “His thinking is stuck in the 1970s.”
The committee replaces the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, established in mid-January, 2025, by then-prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Mr. Trudeau struck the previous advisory group in advance of Mr. Trump’s return to the White House and after the president-elect had warned of big tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and his team had cast doubt on the future of the USMCA.
The Canadian Press
On Sunday, Mr. Carney told Canadians in a video address that Canada’s close ties to the U.S. have become “weaknesses” that must be corrected. While he never mentioned Mr. Trump by name, the Prime Minister said the U.S. “has changed and we must respond.”
“We can’t control the disruption coming from our neighbours. We can’t bet our future in the hope that it will suddenly stop. But we can control what happens here,” he added.
Mr. Carney released the video two days after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the current North American trade agreement a “bad deal” for Americans that may be allowed to “lapse” this summer.
Mr. Lutnick criticized Mr. Carney for trying to lessen Canada’s dependence on the U.S. by striking trade deals with China. He said it was “nuts” for Mr. Carney to let Chinese automakers sell electric vehicles in Canada. The salvo was the latest in a series of critiques of Canadian trade policy from the U.S. President and members of his administration.
“He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think China, the Chinese economy is going to buy his stuff? China is entirely an export-driven economy,” Mr. Lutnick said. “He came back and said, ‘Oh, we’ll take their electric cars.’ I mean, is this nuts?”
Carney says close ties to U.S. have become ‘weaknesses’ that must be corrected
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said earlier this month that he doesn’t expect negotiations on the USMCA to be resolved by July 1.
Under the USMCA, on July 1, the partners can agree to renew the deal for 16 years. If they don’t, they begin a process of annual reviews that continues for 10 years, after which the agreement ends. Any of the three partners can also withdraw from the agreement with six months’ notice.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre welcomed the advisory committee, but said Mr. Carney has little to show in terms of progress on Canada-U.S. relations after more than one year in office.
“Mark Carney was elected on the singular promise that he would negotiate a win with the Americans,” Mr. Poilievre said.
But in the last year U.S. tariffs have hit more Canadian products, he said.
“Just 10 days ago, the Americans hit us with much bigger tariffs on component on products that include Canadian steel,” Mr. Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa.
While Canada is standing up a new advisory committee, the U.S. has a well-established system to tap industry expertise during trade negotiations. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office has an advisory committee system that includes 26 expert committees, across a range of sectors, with a total membership of around 700 advisors.
Full list of advisory committee members:
- Jean Simard - president and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada
- Candace Laing - president and CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
- Darryl White - CEO of Bank of Montreal
- Lisa Raitt - vice-chair of office of the CEO at CIBC, former member of Parliament
- Tracy Robinson - CEO of Canadian National Railway
- Flavio Volpe - president of Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association
- Ron Bedard - president and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Dofasco
- Ken Seitz - CEO of Nutrien
- Dennis Darby - president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
- Lana Payne - national president of Unifor
- François Poirier - president and CEO of TC Energy
- Émile Cordeau - CEO of Agropur Coopérative
- Luc Thériault - CEO Pulp and Wood Products, President Domtar Canada
- Magali Picard - president of Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)
- Jonathan Price - CEO of Teck
- Susan Yurkovich - president and CEO of Canfor
- Michael Harvey - executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
- Tabatha Bull - president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business
- Cameron Bailey - CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival
- Valérie Beaudoin - researcher at the Observatory on the United States and a member of the Political Communication Research Group at Laval University
- Erin O’Toole - former Conservative Party leader
- Jean Charest - former premier of Quebec, former leader of federal Progressive Conservative Party
- P.J. Akeeagok - former premier of Nunavut
- Ralph Goodale - former Liberal minister, former high commissioner to the U.K.
With reports from Stephanie Levitz, Andrew Willis, Marie Woolf and The Canadian Press
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct Lisa Raitt's title.