Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Washington Friday as the future of the continental trade agreement hangs in the balance.
The 2026 World Cup draw will mark the first time all three leaders have gathered in person. It comes ahead of next year's mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA.
While relations among the three nations have been upended by Trump's sweeping tariffs, Canada and Mexico have been shielded from some of the devastating duties through a carveout for goods compliant with CUSMA.
The trade pact was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. At the time, Trump described the agreement as the best deal ever.
Trump has changed course since his return to the White House. On Wednesday, Trump said the trade pact expires next year.
"We'll either let it expire or we'll maybe work out another deal with Mexico and Canada," Trump told reporters.
Trade talks between Canada and the U.S. remain on ice after Trump — angered by an Ontario-sponsored ad quoting former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs — called a halt in October.
The Prime Minister's Office said Carney will have a brief meeting with Trump at the Kennedy Center, where the World Cup event is being held. Sheinbaum said Wednesday it was not yet decided whether she would have a private meeting with the president.
The prime minister and the Mexican president are also set to meet Friday.
The three countries are co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, but the shadow of CUSMA negotiations is likely to hang over the event.
Canada and Mexico have taken different approaches to the second Trump administration.
Carney had two cordial visits with the president at the White House. Friday's gathering will be the first in-person meeting between Trump and Sheinbaum.
Trump boosted duties on Canada to 35 per cent in August but has continued to give extensions to Mexico, which is being hit by 25 per cent duties. Both countries are also being slammed by the president's separate tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles, lumber and copper.
Mexico and Canada have been searching for tariff off-ramps while making the case for duty-free continental trade as Trump threatens to pull the U.S. out of CUSMA.
The review, which formally begins in July, boils down to a three-way choice for each country: renew CUSMA for another 16 years, withdraw from the agreement, or signal both non-renewal and non-withdrawal — which essentially would keep negotiations going.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Politico this week Trump could withdraw the U.S. from the agreement and raised the idea of negotiating with Canada and Mexico separately.
Greer's office is holding public hearings in Washington this week on the future of the trade agreement. Canadian industry and business groups testified about CUSMA's importance and called for a timely review.
A news release from the Business Council of Canada said its president and CEO, Goldy Hyder, told the hearing "the livelihoods of American, Mexican and Canadian workers and their families depend on the continued, certain and predictable operation of (CUSMA)."
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
