Canada seeks USMCA renewal for 16 years, sector tariff discussions

Trade discussions between the two countries have been frozen since late last year.Canada has written to the United States and Mexico with its recommendations to renew a trilateral trade agreement for 16 years while seeking parallel talks on sectoral tariffs before a meeting between Canadian and US trade negotiators later in the day.Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-US trade, Dominic LeBlanc, outlined his suggestions in a letter on Tuesday. He is due to meet US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later in the day, after Canada was left out of bilateral trade talks between the US and Mexico last week. The country’s chief trade negotiator to the US, Janice Charette, will accompany him.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Relief for Indian football fans as FIFA signs World Cup broadcast deallist 2 of 4‘Dreams come true’: Tennis stars relish Serena Williams’s on-court comebacklist 3 of 4How social media is turning African life into content at a costlist 4 of 4Could Trump’s government be influencing Canada’s separatist movement?end of list“The Joint Review process provides us an opportunity to review the Agreement to assess whether there are ways to strengthen it and consider where improvements may be warranted to keep up with evolving economic conditions,” the letter said.The letter also noted that, in parallel with reviewing the Mexico-Canada-agreement" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="18649" data-entity-type="organization">United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), addressing sectoral tariffs will be essential.The US imposed tariffs on steel, aluminium, and cars that have hurt Canada’s economy.Canada criticised for slownessThis will be LeBlanc’s second meeting with Greer after their first meeting in March, although they have spoken occasionally over the phone, including last week, the government has said.Businesses have criticised Canada for being slow to begin the USMCA review process — which must officially be completed by July 1 — while Mexico has been more proactively engaging with the US administration.