While the U.S. has talked down CUSMA, Trump’s top trade official says there are ‘good areas’ they want to keep
John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Apr 22, 2026Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that talks with the Trump administration to renew CUSMA could take longer than anticipated as Canada pushes for what it calls a mutually beneficial agreement.
Carney also vowed that the Americans alone will not dictate the terms of whatever deal is struck, insisting this process is a negotiation that will have to result in some U.S. concessions to Canada before Ottawa and the provinces make their own compromises and agree to renew the trilateral trade agreement for another 16 years.
The U.S. has maintained that renewing CUSMA is a separate and distinct issue from the punishing Section 232 tariffs that Trump has levied on Canadian goods like steel, aluminum, lumber and autos.
Canadian negotiators don’t see it that way.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said Canada doesn’t want a “one-off” deal on CUSMA while industries hit hard by Trump’s tariffs are left for another negotiation.
That’s a message Carney himself relayed when asked Wednesday about the U.S. trying to fence off the sectoral tariffs from the CUSMA negotiations. He said there needs to be a “comprehensive approach.”
“We will sit down and work through those issues with the broader approach in the negotiation. We’ve made some counter-proposals, which they’re aware of, and the time will come to really roll up our sleeves,” he said.
“It’s not a case of the United States dictates the terms. We have a negotiation. We can come to a mutually successful outcome. It will take some time.”
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Source: CBC News
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