‘We don’t need anything that Canada has’: Trump says he’s ‘not looking to renew’ North American trade deal

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Asked Wednesday about the upcoming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, the free trade deal between the three countries, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “I’m not looking to renew it.”

“We don’t need anything” that Canada or Mexico has, said the president.

By July 1, all three countries must say whether they would like to renew the agreement for 16 years, or commit to annual reviews, per the schedule baked into the deal.

On-and-off informal negotiations between the U.S. and Canada have been going on for months, and the latter has already indicated it’s interested in renewing the trade pact. The U.S. and Mexico, meanwhile, have said they’re making progress on their formal bilateral talks.

CUSMA, or USMCA as it’s known in the U.S., has shielded Canadian goods from a large portion of U.S. import tariffs.

Leaders on both sides of the border have called it the best trade deal with the U.S. in the world. Trump sang its praises on Wednesday, but for one reason specifically.

“It gave the right to terminate,” he said.

“NAFTA was the worst trade deal I’ve ever seen,” said Trump, referring to CUSMA’s 1994 predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement. “I made it better, but I had the right to terminate. And with NAFTA, we didn’t have the right to terminate.”

“USMCA did one thing that I love. After six years, it comes up for renewal,” he added. “I don’t know that I’m going to renew it. Because to be honest with you, the United States does much better, OK? We don’t need anything that Canada has. We don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have.”

Canada has exported US$127-billion worth of goods to the U.S. so far this year, according to the American census bureau. Canada imported US$114 billion-worth of American goods, meaning the U.S. has accrued a US$12 billion trade deficit so far in 2026.

The trade deficit, a measure of the difference between imports and exports, has irritated Trump, who has repeatedly cited it as a problem with Canada-U.S. trade.

“We should have surpluses with them,” he said, referring to both Canada and Mexico.

During a scrum on Parliament Hill Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney didn’t answer when asked by reporters to respond to Trump’s statements. CTV News has reached out to Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s office for comment.

Canadians in Washington

Canada has been on the charm-offensive in recent days as the review date draws nearer.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has wrapped his two-day tour to Washington to push his “Fortress North America” for tariff free trade with the U.S. He posted photos of a discussion with the industry group Autos Drive America. He also had a meeting with the American Farm Bureau Federation and sat down with the American Automotive Policy Council.

Last week, LeBlanc made Canada’s intentions to renew the deal clear with a letter to his counterparts in the U.S. and Mexico.

“This agreement is highly beneficial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy,” LeBlanc wrote in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexican Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard.

‘Typical Donald Trump bluster’

CTV News political commentator Tom Mulcair chalked Trump’s latest rhetoric as a negotiating tactic ahead of the July 1 deadline. The American economy is deeply intertwined with those of Canada and Mexico, and Mulcair says “(Trump) knows it, we know it, and again, this is all typical Donald Trump bluster.”

“The trade deficit is largely due to the fact that we export, cheaply, lots of petroleum straight to the United States to be refined there,” he said, adding Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made a similar point during a keynote speech in New York.

“So, if Donald Trump wants us to put an end tomorrow to the trade surplus, we can. And we’ll stop shipping them oil cheap. And they can pay much more on the global market,” he added.

An October 2025 analysis of crude oil exports by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) found energy exports accounted for $197 billion in 2024. That’s more than metals and minerals ($124 billion), food and produce ($102 billion), transportation ($98 billion) and forest product ($38 billion).

After meeting domestic refining needs, 95 per cent of Canada’s oil exports go to the United States, “due to proximity and Canada’s limited access to alternative trade partners,” the report notes.

With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk and Abigail Bimman