Prime Minister Mark Carey is planning to host premiers in Ottawa later this month as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA) comes up for review later this year, according to senior government sources.
The first ministers’ meeting, which will take place Jan. 29, comes just over a month after the last one, which was held virtually with the exception of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who participated in Ottawa with Carney.
Negotiations over the trilateral trade agreement were the focus of the last first ministers’ meeting, as the prime minister briefed premiers on what the federal government was doing ahead of the mandatory review of CUSMA, which is scheduled to be completed by July 1.
Relief from punishing sectorial tariffs on steel, aluminum and forestry seems unlikely within the next six months, according to the prime minister.
“If the U.S. wanted to sit down this weekend, we could sit down this weekend and hammer out sectoral deals. I’m confident of that from our side,” Carney told reporters Dec. 18.
“But there is now a process … the U.S. is doing consultations for what they call USMCA, we call CUSMA. They’ll finish those, and then that will roll into this review process.”
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer laid out several conditions the Trump administration would like to see met for CUSMA to be extended beyond its expiration in 2036.
In December, Greer told U.S. Congress CUSMA has been “successful to a certain degree,” but required changes in order to extend it. Irritants like the boycott on American alcohol, Canada’s quota system on the dairy sector and the online streaming law – which affects U.S. tech companies like YouTube, Netflix and Spotifiy – remain hurdles according to Trump’s point person on trade.
All 13 provincial and territorial premiers are expected to hold their own meeting the day before sitting down with Carney, according to a senior provincial government source.
The meetings come a week after the prime minister is expected to return from an international trip that includes a stop in China, where trade is expected to be a focus. Canada continues to look for other export markets in the face of U.S. tariffs.
With files from Vassy Kapelos, CTV News’ chief political correspondent
