US President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of scrapping the trilateral free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico (USMCA).
“USMCA is good for all parties. We will have about a year of negotiations to fix it or terminate it“, the head of the administration in Washington said, answering reporters' questions at the beginning of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House. “We could start negotiations again on the content of USMCA. If at all necessary. I'm not sure that's necessary now“, the president added.
He answered negatively when asked whether any of Carney's proposals at the current meeting could lead to the cancellation of Washington's decisions to impose tariffs on Ottawa. The president again expressed the opinion that the US is actually subsidizing Canada by about 200 billion USD per year. “This is a very significant amount. And it is difficult for the American taxpayer to say: “Of course we like to do this“, Trump emphasized.
The USMCA agreement was signed in 2018 at the initiative of Trump, who was then the 45th President of the United States. He believed that a similar trade agreement, NAFTA, was not in the interests of the United States. The new agreement entered into force in 2020. It is possible that it will be reviewed in 2026.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on this list. The universal tariffs of 10% came into force on April 5, individual tariffs - on April 9. Then the American leader announced that he was suspending additional import duties imposed on a reciprocal basis on a number of countries and territories for 90 days. The White House explained that the pause was related to trade negotiations, during which a “universal tariff of 10%" would be in effect.