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Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Carney says renegotiating CUSMA likely won't resolve all trade issues with U.S.

By The Canadian Press

Published 10:43 PDT, Fri October 10, 2025

Last Updated: 2:33 PDT, Fri October 10, 2025

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Prime Minister Mark Carney says it's clear the U.S. will keep targeting certain sectors with tariffs even after the renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc returned from Washington on Friday after a week of high-level talks about trade and tariffs with nothing more than a pledge to keep talking.

LeBlanc was at the White House on Tuesday with Prime Minister Mark Carney for a working visit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

While Trump heaped praise on Carney and told reporters he was confident the Canadian delegation would be very happy with the outcome of the talks, LeBlanc's Friday update on social media said there is still no deal to report.

"Over the coming days, our team in Washington will continue discussions with their counterparts towards trade resolutions that will bring greater certainty to both of our countries," he said in a post on X, adding he looks forward to returning to D.C. "soon."

Talks to update the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA, are set to start next year. Carney said Friday those talks are unlikely to resolve all outstanding issues.

"There are certain sectors — steel, aluminum, autos, forest products, pharmaceuticals — (that) the Americans have decided are strategic and they have trade actions against everybody in the world," Carney told a press conference in Ottawa.

He said Canada's efforts are focused on those sectoral tariffs, which he believes would remain in place even with a revised version of CUSMA.

"It means that this is not one simple — as if any trade deal is simple — but one simple trade deal which will resolve all the issues," Carney said.

During their Oval Office meeting on Tuesday, Trump told reporters there will still be tariffs on Canada going forward because "we've always had tariffs between the two of us," citing tariffs on U.S. agriculture exports, like dairy products, that kick in after a set quota.

Trump also cast doubt on whether a renewed trilateral trade deal is still a certainty.

"We could renegotiate it and that would be good, or we could just do different deals, we're allowed to do different deals if we want, we might make deals that are better for the individual countries," he said, adding that he doesn't care which outcome happens.

The vast majority of Canadian trade with the U.S. is exempted from tariffs because of CUSMA, after Trump signed an executive order to that effect in July.

On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was asked about Trump's comments and told reporters that not all meetings about the trade deal need to be trilateral.

Still, she said, "CUSMA is law in Canada, in the U.S. and in Mexico. It was approved by Congress. If you want to change it, there must be a profound revision of it."

– Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington, D.C.