Trump Trade Policy and USMCA

Canada’s minister for U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, told a Toronto business audience on Feb. 26, 2026 that the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement could effectively move to annual reviews after its mandatory July 2026 check‑in if the three countries cannot reach consensus, and suggested that ongoing uncertainty may be a deliberate objective of the Trump administration. LeBlanc said he will meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington late next week and warned that the cloud over USMCA is already depressing net business investment in Canada, particularly in tariff‑hit sectors like aluminum, steel, autos and lumber. He linked that chill to President Trump’s broader tariff campaign and Greer’s public calls to 'reshore' industrial production, including Trump’s rhetoric about getting U.S. automakers to close Canadian plants and move them back to the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney, citing the same tariff pressures, is pushing to double Canada’s non‑U.S. exports over the next decade and has recently inked a trade deal with China while courting India. For U.S. readers, the remarks signal that the 2026 USMCA review could become a recurring flashpoint that injects year‑to‑year uncertainty into North American supply chains even as the White House tries to steer auto and manufacturing investment back onto U.S. soil.