Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump are “constantly” in touch and will meet during the G7 summit in France next month as the review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal, or CUSMA, is drawing closer, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday.
The trade deal, which was signed in 2018 and touches virtually all trade between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, is scheduled for a review by July 1 this year.
“Prime Minister Carney is in contact with President Trump constantly, and also they have met each other around the world and they will be meeting each other very soon, as the G7 will be hosted in France in June, so very shortly,” Joly said.
Carney was in New York on Thursday, meeting business leaders, CEOs and money managers with an aim to attract foreign investors to Canada.
In the coming weeks, as the CUSMA review draws closer, other Canadian ministers will also be deployed to the U.S. to meet with business leaders and stakeholders in the private sector, Joly said.
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“We need to be able to talk to many allies across the U.S. Many of us ministers will be deployed across the U.S. as well to be talking to the private sector and different communities across the country,” Joly said.
Canada is more proactive now, rather being reactive, in managing the trade war with U.S., Joly said.
“In 2025, we were much more in reaction mode when it came to the trade war and the tariffs. In 2026, we have a plan and we’re putting it into place,” she said.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday there are significant trade issues with Canada but he has been in regular contact with his Canadian counterparts.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has been having “key conversations this week and even meetings” with Greer, Joly said, while she has been meeting with private sector representatives from both sides of the border in tariff-hit sectors like automobiles, forestry, steel and aluminum.
The CUSMA review sets up a three-way choice for each country to make in July. They can renew the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from it or signal both non-renewal and non-withdrawal — which would trigger an annual review that could keep negotiations going for up to a decade.
Greer has suggested that the Trump administration is unlikely to rubber-stamp a renewal and the three countries are preparing for lengthy trade talks.
Trump froze negotiations with Canada last year because he was angered by an Ontario-sponsored ad quoting former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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