Canada is seeking a 16-year CUSMA renewal ahead of the July 1 deadline
Suspended Canada-US trade talks are back on.
Canada-US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc declared negotiations "unfrozen" after meeting US trade representative Jamieson Greer in Washington for 45 minutes on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
It was their second meeting since October, when Trump ended talks after Ontario ran an anti-tariff television advertisement.
LeBlanc travelled with chief trade negotiator Janice Charette and presented Greer with proposals addressing what he called "long-standing issues that the United States has raised with us," but declined to share specifics.
Greer's office issued no public statement on the substance of the meeting.
In a letter cited CTV News to Greer and Mexico's economy secretary Marcelo Ebrard, LeBlanc formally recommended renewing the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) for 16 years rather than triggering an annual review process, which the July 1 deadline requires all three parties to signal.
"This agreement is highly beneficial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy," LeBlanc wrote.
He acknowledged the other parties may want to propose "improvements" and said Canada "is willing to consider any proposal that can be beneficial to all three nations' long-term prosperity."
Chief negotiator Charette said the best outcome would deliver "the lowest possible tariffs on the narrowest basket of goods with the most market access for Canadian products."
CTV News reported that Canada has not been engaged in formal negotiations, while the US and Mexico have already held two bilateral rounds and scheduled two more for June and July.
Prime Minister Mark Carney downplayed Mexico's head start, telling reporters the US has roughly 60 outstanding issues with Mexico under CUSMA, about double the number it has with Canada, according to CBC News.
The more fundamental dispute between Canada and the US, Carney said, centres on Section 232 tariffs on automobiles, steel, aluminum and forest products.
"We're looking to determine whether there's a possibility of a new partnership there," he said.
Whatever happens on July 1, CUSMA remains in effect until 2036, though any party can withdraw with six months' notice.
According to the New York Times, Trump called CUSMA "the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law" in a January 2020 speech marking its signing.
Major US business and agriculture groups have since urged the White House to renew it, leading experts to question whether Trump's withdrawal threats are a negotiating tactic, CBC News reported.
Brian Clow, who advised former prime minister Justin Trudeau on Canada-US relations, told CBC News that a full US withdrawal "would cause so much damage to the US economy" and called it "very unlikely."
Hours before LeBlanc's Washington meeting, Trump posted to social media linking to a Bloomberg report about Canada's economy entering a technical recession, the New York Times reported.
The post, which defined the recession as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, carried the comment "51st State!"
It was the first time in months Trump had used the phrase, the Times noted, and the post was reposted by US ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.
Ontario's Washington representative David Paterson told CBC News Network the trolling was "typical of the kind of gamesmanship that many countries have faced from Trump" and urged against over-reacting.
On the tariff front, Trump on Monday signed a proclamation amending Section 232 national security tariffs on certain steel, aluminum, and copper imports, with the changes taking effect June 8.
Tariffs on some steel and aluminum derivative products, including agricultural machinery and residential heating and ventilation equipment, will drop to 15 percent from 25 percent.
Mobile industrial equipment such as bulldozers and forklifts will face a 15 percent tariff when imported from trade-deal countries, according to the White House.
Foreign companies whose capital equipment uses at least 85 percent US-origin steel or aluminum by weight may qualify for a 10 percent rate.
Two new product categories, steel racks and aluminum lithographic plates, will be subject to 25 percent duties.
The changes remain in place until December 31, 2027, "to spur near-term investments that will rebuild the Nation's industrial base," the White House said, as reported by BNN Bloomberg.
CUSMA covers roughly $1.3tn in annual Canada-US trade in goods and services and currently shields a large share of Canadian exports from Trump's tariffs, according to CBC News citing Statistics Canada data.
Nearly 70 percent of Canada's exports go to the US, Reuters reported, though almost 90 percent of Canadian products still enter the US duty-free despite the range of sectoral levies in place.
