What progress has been made ahead of CUSMA negotiations?

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]TV's Jeremy Shero from Ottawa for us with more. Good to see you, Jeremy. So, where is our country at right now when it comes to trade with the US?

[00:00:11]>> Yeah, Renee, look, it's it's our country is looking to take that next step.

[00:00:16]Canada is looking to take that next step when it comes to negotiations with the US on that trade agreement. Mexico appears to be ahead of Canada in terms of of progress being made for official talks. They're getting a first round of of negotiations, official negotiations underway today.

[00:00:31]And what we have seen from the Canadian side is no official commitment yet from either side to enter official negotiations and talks between Washington and Ottawa. What we know is that Trade Minister, US-Canada Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is heading to Washington next week. We also know that he met or spoke over the the phone virtually with Jameson Greer, the US Trade Representative on Monday along with the chief negotiator for Canada, Janice Charette. And that is progress. That is a signal that the Canadian side is is looking to perhaps get closer to that next step.

[00:01:12]The last time Minister LeBlanc was in Washington was in March and there has not been much when it comes to updates or information on what kind of progress or what stage Canada is at in terms of that July 1st deadline to enter this review period. It is widely expected that that the deal as is is not going to remain, that changes are going to be made, that there will be a period of renegotiation required to determine, you know, new elements at least of the Canada-US-Mexico agreement.

[00:01:46]The big question is, where has Canada been and why is Canada behind Mexico in terms of of a timeline to get to official talks and official negotiations. And so, we don't have all of those answers. We know that the minister will be there next week. The Prime Minister, as you just heard, is is of course in in New York today, not on a trade mission, he says, in this sense that he's not there looking to impact directly trade talks between Canada and the US, but rather he's speaking to the business community in the US and looking to attract investment. He says institutional investors right now are looking at Canada in a way they have not in a very long time, in a positive way. Looking to invest massive amounts of capital as this country looks to embark on significant projects, infrastructure projects, military spending, as the Prime Minister alluded to there. And so, I think two things are happening at once here. The Prime Minister is is looking to really attract today in a speech at the the Economic Club of New York and in meeting with business leaders, attract capital to the country, while at the same time we're seeing the US-Canada Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc trying to get formal talks underway between Canada and and or between Ottawa and Washington as we look to that to that July 1st deadline.

[00:03:03]>> Mhm. A lot of visits south of the border as of recent. Okay, Jeremy, thank you very much for this. That is CTV's Jeremy Scherer reporting for us from Ottawa.