Dominic LeBlanc, the minister who oversees the Canada-U.S. trade file, will meet with his U.S. counterpart, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Canada’s top trade representatives will meet their counterparts in Washington on Tuesday as Ottawa seeks to jumpstart stalled talks over the review of the North American free-trade pact.
Dominic LeBlanc, the Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, and chief trade negotiator Janice Charette will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Mr. LeBlanc’s spokesperson, Gabriel Brunet, confirmed the trip in a brief statement on Monday but he provided no details on the meeting agenda or the goal of the talks.
A government official told The Globe and Mail the negotiators would discuss proposals that Canada has put forward related to the trading relationship between the two countries and areas where there are opportunities for mutually beneficial co-operation.
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The Globe is not identifying the official who was not authorized to disclose details about the private meeting.
Relations between Canada and the U.S. have had an icy undertone for months, but they appeared to warm last week. Prime Minister Mark Carney was in New York where he made a pitch to an American business audience by using President Donald Trump’s favourite slogan.
“Canada strong will help make America great again,” he said, making the case that the two countries should be working together as “fortress North America.”
U.S. ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra called the Prime Minister’s message positive and said it is one “a lot of Americans can get behind.”
Canada and the U.S. negotiated for months last year before Mr. Trump ended talks in October over an anti-tariff ad run by the Ontario government. Mr. LeBlanc met with Mr. Greer in Washington in March and spoke with him last week, but formal talks between the two sides remain suspended.
The U.S. last week opened its formal review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement with Mexico alone, an apparent attempt to replicate its negotiating strategy of 2018. Back then, it first pressed Mexico for concessions and then, after landing a deal, pressed Canada to quickly sign on.
The main U.S. demand of Mexico last week was to add a 50-per-cent U.S. content requirement on all cars and trucks produced in the USMCA zone, a demand Mr. Trump’s negotiators also made during his first term and which has repeatedly been roundly rejected by Mexico. In last week’s talks in Mexico City, the U.S. also demanded that the required amount of North American content rise from 75 per cent to 82 per cent.
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Both Canada and Mexico are feeling the effects of Mr. Trump’s trade war, particularly tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum. But both so far have resisted signing the kind of quick trade deals that Britain, the European Union and others have agreed to, which included punitive concessions in exchange for Mr. Trump lowering his tariffs.
The USMCA, negotiated at Mr. Trump’s behest in his first term to replace NAFTA, mostly preserved open markets between the three countries, but Mr. Trump has ignored it during this term and imposed tariffs on key sectors.
Under the terms of the USMCA, the three countries have to decide by July 1 whether to extend the deal for 16 years or hold annual reviews for the next decade. It is almost certain that the latter will be the case. The parties will then have 10 years to reach an agreement to extend the deal, or see it expire. In addition, any country can pull out of the agreement with six months’ notice.
Mr. Brunet said Canada has made it clear to the United States that it is “ready to launch the joint review the moment they are.”
On Parliament Hill Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the Prime Minister for what he said was an inconsistent approach to dealing with the United States and for Canada’s absence from the current trade talks with Mexico.
“Frankly, I’ve done a lot more in opposition than Mr. Carney has been doing in government to promote tariff-free trade,” Mr. Poilievre said.
The Conservative Leader has taken a single trip to the United States in the last year and did not go to Washington. In contrast, the Prime Minister’s Office said Mr. Carney has taken four trips south of the border since being elected and his office’s website details six meetings or phone calls between the President and Prime Minister.