A second premier of a Canadian province believes that Canada would be best served by a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States rather than the current USMCA deal, a trilateral agreement that includes Mexico.
In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was asked whether she agreed with Ontario Governor Doug Ford’s view that “maybe Mexico should be cut out of the process if it won’t comply with the spirit of the USMCA,” the three-way North American free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020.
“A thousand percent,” Smith responded. “… I’m very much in sync with what he has to say.”
Earlier in the interview, Smith said she recently met with Robert Lighthizer, United States trade representative during Donald Trump’s first term as U.S. president, and that “he gave us a pretty good insight into what it is the Americans want.”
“The Americans want fair trade, they want us to buy as much product from them as they buy from us and as a whole Canada absolutely does do that. … The real issue we have is that Mexico has not been that equal partner with the United States,” she said, apparently referring to Mexico’s large trade surplus with its northern neighbor.
“And in addition to that they’re inviting China to engage in investment in Mexico, which is hollowing out the manufacturing sector in both America as well as Canada. And that’s why I think we need to take a bilateral approach, put Canada first,” Smith said.
“… Look, Mexico is important to Canada, they’re our fourth largest trading partner in Alberta, but just to give you the idea of the difference in the relationship: We have about $2.9 billion in bilateral trade with Mexico, we have $188 billion in bilateral trade with the United States. We certainly cannot sacrifice our relationship and friendship with our largest trading partner if this is a trade irritant,” the premier said.
“That’s why I’m committed to a Canada first approach. If we can get a bilateral agreement, I think that would allow us to be able to avoid tariffs,” Smith added, referring to tariffs Trump has threatened to impose on imports from all of the United States’ trade partners.
The premier made similar remarks in an interview with Canadian television network CTV on Sunday.
“It’s pretty clear that the Americans have indicated that they want to have a fair trade relationship. Mexico’s not in a position to be able to offer that, especially with the investment that they have from China,” Smith said.
Her comments came after Ford accused Mexico of becoming a low-tariff “backdoor” into North America for Chinese products.
“If Mexico won’t fight transshipment by, at the very least, matching Canadian and American tariffs on Chinese imports, they shouldn’t have a seat at the table or enjoy access to the largest economy in the world,” the Ontario premier wrote on X last Tuesday.
“Instead, we must prioritize the closest economic partnership on Earth by directly negotiating a bilateral U.S.-Canada free trade agreement that puts U.S. and Canadian workers first.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum subsequently said that Ford’s proposal to terminate the USMCA “has no future.”
“There is no need to worry,” she added.
For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who attended the G20 summit with Sheinbaum in Rio de Janeiro on Monday — has indicated that he wants the USMCA to continue.
Trump, like Ford, has railed against Mexico forwarding Chinese products north, saying in an address at the Detroit Economic Club last month that he would seek “strong new protections against transshipment” in the USMCA “so that China and other countries cannot smuggle their products and auto parts into the United States tax-free through Mexico to the detriment of our workers and our supply chains.”
The incoming U.S. president has threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States, and declared in October that he would “have a lot of fun” renegotiating USMCA, which is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026.
However, Trump has not advocated the termination of the pact he negotiated and signed during his first term as president.
“I terminated NAFTA. That’s a pretty big thing. A lot of people said it would be impossible to do. I got it done, and we have a great deal now,” he said in Detroit on Oct. 10.
“What we have to do is make it much better even, and we’ll be able to do that very shortly,” Trump said.
Mexico News Daily
