A spokesperson for Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he will “soon begin discussions” with his US and Mexican counterparts.
He is meeting this week with key sectors and labour unions to shape Canada’s position and stressed that workers’ and businesses’ interests will be “front and centre,” CBC News reported.
Ontario’s trade representative in Washington, David Paterson, told CTV that Trump’s tough talk fits the early stage of negotiations, saying it is “fairly common” for a president to start from “a position of stated dominance.”
Some see Trump’s stance as another warning shot about overreliance on a single market.
Amanda Alvaro, a former Liberal communications strategist, told CBC’s Power & Politics that “nobody can predict what will happen with Trump” or with the renegotiation of CUSMA and argued that Canada should use this moment to broaden its trading relationships beyond the US border.