Carney, Trump and Sheinbaum met privately, agreed to ‘keep working together’ on trade deal: PMO
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Prime Minister Mark Carney met privately Friday with U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Washington, D.C., with no staff in the room.
The meeting, which happened at the Kennedy Center following the FIFA World Cup Draw, lasted about 45 minutes.
A spokesperson for Carney said he “had many occasions for constructive discussions” with both Trump and Sheinbaum.
“Today was about the FIFA World Cup 26 and Canada’s leadership and opportunities as we welcome the world as a co-host,” said the spokesperson, Audrey Champoux, in a statement.
“They’ve agreed to keep working together on CUSMA.”
Trump said earlier in the day the three leaders would talk about trade during their meeting and that he gets along well with both Carney and Sheinbaum.
This was the first private meeting between Carney and Trump since the U.S. president abruptly ended trade talks in October in response to an anti-tariff ad sponsored by the Ontario government. The two were seated across the table and acknowledged each other during a toast at a dinner ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-Operation Summit in late October.
Trade relations between the three nations were upended earlier this year by Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA, has shielded Canada and Mexico from broad-based tariffs, but the agreement enters its mandatory review period next year. The deal would expire in 2036 if the three parties do not agree to renew it before then.
Canada, Mexico have taken different approaches
The three countries are co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, but the shadow of CUSMA negotiations is likely to hang over the event.
Canada and Mexico have taken different approaches to the second Trump administration.
Carney has had two cordial meetings with the president at the White House. Friday’s gathering was the first in-person meeting between Trump and Sheinbaum.
Trump boosted duties on Canada to 35 per cent in August but has continued to give extensions to Mexico, which is being hit by 25 per cent duties. Both countries are also being slammed by the president’s separate tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles, lumber and copper.
WATCH | The Power Panel on Trump’s CUSMA threats:
Trump administration makes new suggestions about quitting CUSMA trade deal
The Power Panel weighs in as Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of a FIFA event, fresh after the president muses about leaving the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal.
Mexico and Canada have been searching for tariff off-ramps while making the case for duty-free continental trade as Trump threatens to pull the U.S. out of CUSMA.
The CUSMA review, which formally begins in July, boils down to a three-way choice for each country: renew the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from the agreement or signal both non-renewal and non-withdrawal — which essentially would keep negotiations going.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Politico this week that Trump could withdraw the U.S. from the agreement and raised the idea of negotiating with Canada and Mexico separately.
Greer’s office held public hearings in Washington this week on the future of the trade agreement. Canadian industry and business groups testified about CUSMA’s importance and called for a timely review.
A news release from the Business Council of Canada said its president and CEO Goldy Hyder told the hearing “the livelihoods of American, Mexican and Canadian workers and their families depend on the continued, certain and predictable operation of [CUSMA].”
