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Canada and the U.S. are poised to enter formal trade talks in 2026 as the U.S., Mexico, and Canada Agreement (USMCA) reaches its first review period.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump established the USMCA in 2018, replacing the longstanding North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). When it was established, the USMCA included a clause to potentially renegotiate the deal in 2026, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has now told Canadian provincial leaders that Minister of Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc will meet with officials in the U.S. in mid-January to launch those discussions, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer, in a brief on the status of the USMCA sent to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, said stakeholders the USTR have met with ahead of negotiations have concerns particularly related to the dairy market’s access to Canada and have “divergent views” on whether the trade review should place restrictions on imports of seasonal products from Mexico.
“Unsurprisingly, rules of origin were top of mind for many industrial stakeholders, especially the idea that the rules need to change to better ensure that the United States and our USMCA partners primarily benefit from the Agreement’s preferential tariff treatment,” Greer said.
Rules of origin are a key part of the USMCA, as well as the exemptions that have so far allowed seafood products to largely go unscathed by tariffs placed on Canadian goods. Trump has enacted 35 percent tariffs on goods from Canada, but any goods that fall under the USMCA are exempt from those tariffs. All goods that are wholly obtained or produced within one of the three member countries fall under the USMCA – meaning seafood caught and processed in either the U.S. or Canada can cross the border between the two countries tariff-free.
Canada is the largest seafood trading partner with the U.S. and, according to NOAA Fisheries data, sent USD 3.98 billion (EUR 3.38 billion) worth of seafood products to the U.S. in 2024. Those exports have shown no signs of slowing in 2025; according to NOAA data, Canada sent USD 3.6 billion (EUR 3.06 billion) worth of seafood to the U.S. through September of this year, which was well ahead of the USD 3.2 billion (EUR 2.7 billion) it had sent through the same period of 2024.
The U.S. and Canada had been close to a trade deal, but Trump terminated all negotiations with Canada in October in response to a television advertisement featuring a quote from former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY,” Trump wrote on 24 October 2025.
Carney said that any trade negotiations between the two countries will now take place during USMCA talks ahead of the sixth anniversary of the deal entering into force: 1 July 2026.