Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum are meeting for the first time after nearly a year of uncertainty over the future of free trade on the continent and it comes ahead of the mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in 2026.
Carney is landing in Washington, D.C., Friday morning to participate in the FIFA Men’s World Cup draw ceremony, which will be hosted jointly by the three nations.
The noon ceremony determines matchups between the 48 countries participating in next year’s World Cup, with 104 matches to be played across the continent.
Canada will play host to 13 games, marking the first time the prestigious tournament is played on Canadian soil.
While Trump’s tariffs have thrown North American trade policy into uncertainty, the exemption handed out to Canada and Mexico on CUSMA-compliant goods has cushioned both nations against the worst impacts.
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However, Trump has signalled recently that he is open to letting the deal expire.
The deal, which he was instrumental in negotiating in 2018 and is referred to as CUSMA in Canada and USMCA in the United States, is up for review next year.
“It expires in about a year, and we’ll either let it expire, or we’ll maybe work out another deal with Mexico and Canada,” Trump told reporters in the White House on Wednesday, when asked about the future of the deal.
Canada and Mexico had “taken advantage” of the U.S., Trump said.
“Mexico and Canada have taken advantage of the United States. It’s like just about every other country, in all fairness, it’s not them. I’m not blaming them. But every country because we had stupid people running our country,” Trump said.
The deal was signed during Trump’s first term in office and in 2020. After signing the deal, he praised the trade agreement.
“It’s the best agreement we’ve ever made,” Trump had said at the time.
In October, Trump cut off all trade talks with Canada over what he called an “egregious” television ad featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan paid for and run by the Ontario government on American television networks.
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