Canada-U.S. trade talks have restarted. Here’s what’s at stake

Face-to-face negotiations resume for 1st time since Trump cancelled them in October

Mike Crawley · CBC News · Posted: Mar 06, 2026

For the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump called off negotiations last October — ostensibly over a TV ad — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s point man on trade met face to face with his White House counterpart.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was in Washington, D.C., on Friday to meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

When LeBlanc emerged from the meeting, CBC News asked him what happened in the talks, but his only comment before getting into a waiting vehicle was “Have a good weekend.”

In a statement Friday afternoon, LeBlanc’s office described the discussion as “constructive and substantive.”

For full article see Canada-U.S. trade talks have restarted. Here’s what’s at stake | CBC News

The “fun” is about to begin.

Whether it is the threat of a U.S. withdrawal from the CUSMA, or (a more likely scenario) harassment by the political/economic pressure of Annual Reviews, we will start to see a variety of policies and sectors come under pressure from the U.S. A good summary of the various ways this might work can be found at The true worst-case scenario for CUSMA talks – Canadian Affairs

Canada has a new team in place for the negotiations. Beyond Minister Leblanc, Prime Minister Carney has recently named Janice Charette as his Chief Trade Negotiator. See Prime Minister Carney announces new Chief Trade Negotiator to the United States | Prime Minister of Canada. And long-time “Foreign Service sourced” Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman has been succeeded by “Private Sector sourced” Mark Wiseman. See Prime Minister announces next Ambassador of Canada to the United States | Prime Minister of Canada

I wish them the best.