Ottawa is sending senior trade officials to Washington as fresh U.S. tariffs increase pressure on North American trade relations.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not interested in updating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), even as Canada prepared to send senior trade officials to Washington for further talks aimed at easing rising tariff tensions.
Speaking by phone to Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday (28 July), Trump said the six-year-old trade pact mattered more to Canada and Mexico than to the United States.
"I don't care. I mean, I don't really want to. I'd rather be independent," Trump said when asked whether he would update the agreement. "Mexico and Canada need us. We don't need them. The deal is important for them. It's not important for us."
Trump decided on 1 July not to renew the USMCA during a review meeting, beginning a decade-long wind-down of the pact unless the three countries agree on revisions before then. His trade chief, Jamieson Greer, held a third round of talks with Mexico last week, but the discussions exposed deep differences over stricter regional automotive content rules.
The United States has already weakened the agreement's duty-free framework by imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Mexican- and Canadian-built cars and trucks, along with 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium products, citing national security grounds.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister responsible for U.S. trade, will visit Washington this week with Canada's chief negotiator to the United States, Janice Charette, according to his spokesperson. Canada has not been part of the formal USMCA negotiations so far but has maintained high-level contacts with Greer.
The visit follows the Trump administration's announcement of additional 50 per cent tariffs under the previously unused Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including hockey sticks, beer, dairy products, plywood and other goods. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the measures were a response to Canadian retaliation over automotive and metals tariffs, provincial restrictions on U.S. liquor sales and what it considers insufficient concessions on dairy market access.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said after the tariff announcement that he and Trump had agreed to intensify trade negotiations.
Trump argued that his tariff strategy was helping bring manufacturing back to the United States, pointing to Toyota's plan to invest $3.6 billion to expand truck production in Texas and build a pickup model there that is currently assembled in Mexico.
Two major industrial unions voiced support for Canada on Tuesday, urging Greer to reconsider tariffs on Canadian goods and pursue a more cooperative trade relationship.
The United Steelworkers and the International Association of Machinists, which represent workers in both countries, said Washington and Ottawa should work together to counter China's unfair trade practices and excess industrial capacity rather than impose further tariffs on each other.
United Steelworkers International President Roxanne Brown said the two countries share decades of economic integration, intelligence cooperation and defence ties, adding that both sides should limit illegal trade practices and advance shared prosperity.
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