Canada Urges US and Mexico to Renew Free Trade Pact for 16 Years

Canada is calling on the United States and Mexico to renew the free trade agreement among their three countries for another 16 years even as US President Donald Trump is reviving talk of making Canada the 51st state.

According to a letter conveying Canada’s recommendation and sent Tuesday to US trade representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s economy secretary Marcelo Ebrard, “The Agreement is highly beneficial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy."

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for US trade, said Canada also received letters from Greer and Ebrard. Ebrard said on Tuesday that Mexico would also like it to be extended to 16 years.

The letters come ahead of the scheduled July review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the latest iteration of a North American free trade pact that has intertwined the economies of the United States, Mexico and Canada since the early 1990s. It can either be subject to annual reviews going forward or be renewed for 16 years.

On Tuesday, LeBlanc and Canada's top trade negotiator, Janice Charette, met with Greer in Washington. According to LeBlanc, he made a number of suggestions to Greer that addressed some concerns the United States has had with Canada for a while.

“On July 1, as Ambassador Greer has said publicly, if there is no consensus amongst the three parties to extend for 16 years, the agreement remains in place for 10 more years, and there is a series of annual reviews,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc has previously said he believes Washington might want to have the trade agreement subject to annual reviews and that the Trump administration might seek to cause uncertainty about the trade pact’s permanence.

Trump revives Canada as the 51st state rhetoric

On Monday, Trump posted “51st State!” on social media linking to a news article reporting that Canada is falling into a technical recession. The post was later reposted by the US ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra.

Canadian lawmakers, who have made it a point to maintain their nation's sovereignty, have often responded negatively to Trump's statements regarding the matter.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford issued a peeved response Tuesday: “I can’t believe I have to say this again, but Canada will never be the 51st state. Canada is not for sale.”

Asked on Tuesday if Ambassador Hoekstra should leave the country, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said no.

“It’s an administration that we have to work with. It’s our biggest trading relationship. It’s our biggest security relationship ... we take the administration as it is,” Carney said, adding that Trump posts a lot on social media. “We’re not going to respond to, react to, everything that he posts.”

Carney earlier acknowledged some weakness in the country’s economy as he walked into a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

According to Carney, the US has about 30 different trade irritants with Canada compared to nearly 60 with Mexico.

Washington could withdraw from the agreement with six months' notice.