{"id":624580,"date":"2026-04-24T02:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/624580\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T02:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:09:13","slug":"canada-u-s-ties-too-important-to-abandon-over-trade-tensions-envoy-says-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/624580\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada-U.S. ties \u2018too important\u2019 to abandon over trade tensions, envoy says – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s new ambassador to the United States said the historic ties between the two countries are \u201ctoo important\u201d to abandon completely as trade tensions<\/a> are pushing Ottawa to diversify its economic relationships.<\/p>\n

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Yet Ambassador Mark Wiseman<\/a> was unable to say clearly when those tensions may be resolved, noting repeatedly that Canada remains ready to discuss deals to end sectoral tariffs and renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cNo date has been set for any formal negotiating round as it relates to the review of CUSMA,\u201d Wiseman told the the House of Commons foreign affairs committee after it was noted that the U.S. and Mexico have announced their formal talks will begin in late May.<\/p>\n

All three countries have until July 1 to decide whether to renew the free trade pact as part of a scheduled review. But Trump administration officials have cast doubt a deal will be reached in time and have pointed to ongoing disputes and trade irritants with Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Wiseman said that, although he\u2019s not the lead negotiator on CUSMA and other trade issues, he was representing the government\u2019s position that \u201cNorth American integration must continue to support shared prosperity, but not at the expense of Canada\u2019s autonomy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier Thursday<\/a> that U.S. tariffs on industries like steel, aluminum, autos and lumber \u201care more than irritants. Those are violations of our trade deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4:39
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCarney says Canada not \u2018taking notes\u2019 from Americans as it prepares for U.S. trade talks\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

He warned in a video message on Sunday that Canada\u2019s historic strengths with the U.S. on trade and security ties have become \u201cweaknesses we must correct\u201d by looking to other markets and reducing reliance on the U.S. market.<\/p>\n

Still, Wiseman told MPs that he was optimistic about the relationship overall, pointing to the \u201chuge advantage\u201d Canada has just from being next door to the U.S.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDiversifying does not mean abandoning our relationship with the United States of America,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is too big an advantage to us. It is too important to us.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is a lot of common ground between Canada and the United States, and I think it\u2019s easy to forget that when we are having tough discussions, or when those discussions are are political in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambassador did not say if he agreed with Carney\u2019s harsher rhetoric toward the U.S. or whether \u201canti-American sentiment\u201d pushed by some Canadian public figures was making his job in Washington harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery meeting that I have had has been respectful, open and receptive. And I have to say, I wasn\u2019t necessarily expecting that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at times we have to look below the bluster, the same as here in Canada \u2026 and get down to business. And my sense, based on my reasonably large sample in the first couple of months, is that people in the United States are also wanting to get down to business, not just on trade, but on all the aspects of the complex relationship between our two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:39
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMark Wiseman says Washington\u2019s reception of him has been \u2018incredibly warm\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Asked about the issue of supply management for Canada\u2019s dairy sector \u2014 which U.S. President Donald Trump has raged against and that Carney has vowed won\u2019t be touched in the CUSMA review \u2014 Wiseman said: \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been in agreement with President Trump\u2019s position on this subject and many others.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wiseman took up the diplomatic role in the United States capital in February, replacing Kirsten Hillman, who helped negotiate CUSMA during U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

The new ambassador previously served as a global investment banker and pension fund manager at firms including BlackRock, and acknowledged he has no previous government or diplomatic experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do bring skills to the table, I think,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the prime minister believed this when he asked me to take on the role, whether it be in business negotiation, my legal background.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo me, given the times that we are in (with) our relationship with the United States, those skills come to the fore: building relationships, finding win-win solutions, building bridges.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he remains focused not just on resolving the trade disputes but also strengthening economic and defence partnerships with American government and businesses, noting Canada\u2019s achievement of meeting two per cent of GDP on defence spending \u201chas been welcomed in Washington, D.C.\u201d and \u201cis not going unnoticed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans understand the importance of the alliance and economic relationship with Canada,\u201d he said. \u201cDo they wake up and think about us every day, the way that we wake up and think about them every day? No, that\u2019s not the case. And we have to continually remind them of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWiseman apologizes for English-only invitation\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Near the end of his opening statement, Wiseman apologized for sending an English-only invitation to MPs on the committee to attend a reception in Washington next month.<\/p>\n

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He said not including French on the invitation \u201cwas an error, an unacceptable error, that has now been corrected\u201d with a new bilingual invitation being re-sent.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCanadian ambassador to U.S. apologizes to MPs for English-only invite\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Wiseman, who does not speak French, told the MPs that he takes his job seriously as a representative for \u201call Canadians\u201d in Washington, including Quebecois and Francophone Canadians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will faithfully represent the policies of the government of Canada as instructed in everything that I do, including as it relates to cultural and language matters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier Thursday, Carney said he was disappointed the invitation was English-only, calling it \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau was pushed to resign last month after releasing an English-only video sending condolences to the victims of the deadly Air Canada Jazz collision at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport.<\/p>\n

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Rousseau subsequently announced he would be retiring later this year.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s new ambassador to the United States said the historic ties between the two countries are \u201ctoo important\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,28601,8334,194061,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-624580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cusma","11":"tag-donald-trump-tariffs","12":"tag-mark-wiseman","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}