The minister in charge of Canada-U.S. trade said he will be sitting down with U.S. President Donald Trump's trade czar in the coming weeks to discuss the looming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.
Dominic LeBlanc on Wednesday said he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the phone after he told "Fox Business" last week that Canadians had barriers that made it difficult to have bilateral trade talks.
"They refuse to sell U.S. wine and spirits on their shelves," Greer said. "There are a variety of issues they have not addressed and aren't addressing and this makes it a big challenge and an obstacle for starting real negotiations with them."
Some Canadian provinces removed U.S. alcohol from their shelves last year after Trump hit Canada with tariffs and repeatedly threatened annexation.
Prime Minister Mark Carney appeared to smooth the relationship during two visits to the Oval Office but talks were again frozen after Trump was angered by an Ontario-sponsored advertisement quoting former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs in October.
Negotiations remain frozen and tensions high, although Ottawa and the Canadian Embassy in Washington have said lines of communication with the Trump administration remain open.
The trilateral trade pact, known as CUSMA, has shielded Canada and Mexico from the worst impacts of Trump's tariffs but the Trump administration has caused uncertainty ahead of a mandatory review taking place this year.
Trump has mused about leaving the agreement and Greer has talked about negotiating separate bilateral trade pacts with America's closest neighbours.
LeBlanc, who is leading a large trade mission to Mexico this week, said he spoke with Greer about his comments and believes conversations can still be "fruitful."
"Obviously some of the issues that I assume Ambassador Greer was referring to are some of the issues that the U.S. Administration discusses publicly and some of these issues that we were talking to them about for a long time privately," LeBlanc said in a video news conference from Monterrey.
Trump recently railed against Carney's limited arrangement with China around electric vehicles and agriculture. The president has long complained about Canada's dairy supply management system and claimed the U.S. doesn't need anything from America's northern neighbour.
Meanwhile, Trump's administration has been complimentary about working with Mexico, which is also facing a lower tariff than Canada.
It's reminiscent of the original CUSMA negotiations to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement during Trump's first term.
Robert Lighthizer, Trump's trade representative at the time, recounted in his book that the United States and Mexico initially came to an agreement and "Canada was welcome to join if it wanted" but he wrote that Washington and Mexico City were "prepared to move forward bilaterally if it did not."
Ultimately an agreement was reached that was hailed a success in all three countries.
LeBlanc travelled to Mexico this week with hundreds of delegates representing businesses and key sectors from across Canada this week. He met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and other members of the government.
It comes after LeBlanc and Carney's September visit, when they launched a comprehensive strategic partnership with Mexico, amid Ottawa's push to diversify Canadian trade.
Canada and Mexico do have different trade relationships with the United States, LeBlanc said, but there are many areas of common ground ahead of the upcoming review.
LeBlanc said he was assured by his Mexican counterpart that they wanted to work with Canada to ensure the CUSMA review would result in a strengthened trilateral relationship.
"We both remain absolutely committed to the trilateral free trade agreement and working together as this review process unfolds," LeBlanc said.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
