Canada is not a supplicant, will not let US dictate terms of USMCA review, says Carney
- By Reuters -
- Apr 23, 2026
Canada is not a supplicant that will allow the United States to dictate the terms for a scheduled review of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade treaty, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday.
The three nations are due to finish their work by July 1 but the schedule has been complicated by US-Canadian tensions over tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on key imports from Canada last year. Carney says the measures mean Canada must reduce its heavy reliance on the US market.
Trump complains that the USMCA deal – which underpins much of Canada’s economy – is unfair to the United States.
“It’s not a case where there is someone making demands, and a supplicant,” Carney told reporters.
“It’s not a case that the United States dictates the terms. We have a negotiation, we can come to a mutually successful outcome – it will take some time,” he continued.
In Washington, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said unless Canada engaged in talks about broadening the so-called rules of origin that allow goods to enter the United States tariff-free, Washington might have to impose other border controls.
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who sits on a panel advising Carney on Canada-US economic relations, told Radio-Canada that Washington was seeking “a lot of concessions from Canada” before bilateral talks began.
Mexico has already held two rounds of talks with the United States about the review and the two nations will hold their first formal round of negotiations next month.
No date has been announced for talks with Canada. Carney said there were multiple levels of contact with US officials, adding that both sides had irritants that they wanted addressed.
Canada responded to the US tariffs with its own countermeasures. Carney says Trump’s actions mean Canada needs to diversify trade.
Greer told a Congressional hearing that Canada was “doubling down on globalization” in a fashion that was at odds with US trade priorities. “If the Canadians don’t want to have those rules of origin then we’ll have to have some other form of border control to make sure we are not disadvantaged,” Greer said.
Canada’s chief trade negotiator with the United States, Janice Charette, said on Tuesday that she did not expect Canada and the US to resolve all issues by July 1, but that would not mean the North American trade agreement would collapse.