WASHINGTON — Trade talks with Canada ahead of the mandatory review of the continental trade pact are lagging behind those with Mexico, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday.
Greer told Fox Business that talks are moving ahead with his Mexican counterparts as the Trump administration negotiates changes to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.
“We’re having talks separately with Canada, but we’ve moved along with Mexico,” Greer said. “Canada is behind on this.”
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with Greer in Washington on March 6, days after the Trump administration announced it was officially beginning negotiations with Mexico.
The meeting was seen by some as a sign of a thaw in Canada-U.S. relations after President Donald Trump froze negotiations with Canada last year because he was angered by an Ontario-sponsored ad quoting former president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.
But no announcement of formal negotiations with Canada has emerged from the Trump administration since that meeting took place.
LeBlanc’s spokesperson Gabriel Brunet said the government has “always said that there would be bilateral and trilateral discussions as part of the CUSMA review — and it’s not unusual for bilateral discussions between each party to move at a different pace.”
“Minister LeBlanc remains in contact with Ambassador Greer and looks forward to further engagement in the coming weeks,” Brunet said in an email.
CUSMA — which was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement — has shielded Canada and Mexico from the worst impacts of Trump’s tariffs. His worldwide 10 per cent duty does not apply to goods that comply with the trade agreement.
Canada is still being slammed by Trump’s separate tariffs on industries like steel, aluminum, autos, lumber and cabinets.
The Trump administration last week launched investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 of a long list of countries, including Canada, citing forced labour in supply chains. It was seen as a move to restore Trump’s higher tariffs following a U.S Supreme Court ruling that reined in the president’s tariff powers.
Greer said he was meeting Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard later Wednesday for formal negotiations. He said they would discuss rules of origin requirements under the agreement.
“We just don’t want Mexico to become a hub for goods imported from Vietnam or China or somewhere else,” Greer said. “If we’re going have some kind of a deal, it has to be a deal for Mexico and the United States and the goods should be made up of content from Mexico and United States.”
Greer has complained that Canadians maintain barriers that make it difficult to hold bilateral trade talks, citing provincial bans on U.S. alcohol.
The relationship between Canada and the United States has been upended during the second Trump administration by the president’s tariffs and threats of annexation.
When asked Wednesday about Trump’s threat to stop the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan, Vice-President JD Vance claimed the U.S. subsidizes Canada’s “entire” military, alleged Canada treats American workers unfairly and said Canada tariffs the United States.
“Our hope with Canada, and I think we’ll get there eventually, is we are going to get to a point where Canada treats our workers fairly, we treat their workers fairly,” Vance said in Auburn Hills, Mi. “And they are going to be a true ally and a true friend, not somebody who has taken advantage of us, which is what they’ve done for most of my life.”
CUSMA is up for review this year but the future of the continental trade agreement has been left in doubt by Trump. He has called CUSMA irrelevant and has said it may have served its purpose.
Greer also has floated the idea of abandoning the trade pact in favour of two separate bilateral agreements with America’s closest neighbours.
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.
Ottawa and Mexico City have both said the priority is to maintain an agreement between all three countries.
LeBlanc led a large trade mission to Mexico last month and a Mexican trade delegation is set to travel to Canada in May.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.
Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press
