Canada is “preparing” for the start of negotiations on the review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA) and Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will hold monthly meetings with premiers when talks begin.
“We’re preparing for this year’s review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, and we agreed that we will meet monthly once those discussions begin,” Carney said.
The federal government and the provinces will also create a “Team Canada trade and investment hub that will support trade missions and business delegations with federal, provincial and territorial representatives.”
Ottawa and the provinces also agreed to meet in March to discuss the removal of more interprovincial trade barriers, especially those around the free movement of workers across Canada’s provinces and territories.
“The bottom line is we all agree that enabling nurses, teachers, tradespeople to work where they want, to take their skills where they’re in high demand, is right for them and it’s right for Canada,” Carney said.
The meeting came as the renewal of CUSMA is approaching and U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada stretches on.
Kicking off the meeting, Carney thanked the premiers for working to reduce interprovincial trade barriers in their jurisdictions, but added more can be done.
“To realize our full potential, we need to break down the remaining costly and long-standing barriers once and for all,” he said.
The U.S. currently has multiple rounds of tariffs on key sectors of the Canadian economy, including steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.
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Last week, Trump threatened a 100 per cent tariff against “all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.” after Canada announced a trade agreement over canola and electric vehicles with China.
This prompted Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc to clarify that there was “no pursuit of a free trade deal with China.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Carney said the internal review process for CUSMA is “finished in Canada.”
“We’ve had good conversations, good back and forth,” Carney said about his conversations with Trump when asked by reporters if he still had hope for a renewal of CUSMA.
“There’s a lot of work to be done for the review of CUSMA. That work has started with reviews in the United States, internal reviews and consultations. The work has started in Mexico. It’s finished in Canada,” Carney said before the Liberal caucus meeting.
Canada will be “ready to sit down” with both the U.S. and Mexico soon, he added.
The process leading up to this year’s scheduled review of CUSMA officially began in September 2025.
In December, Carney’s office said the federal government would formally start trade discussions with the U.S. on the renewal of CUSMA in January.
—With files from the Canadian Press
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