The Trump administration isn’t backing down on North American tariffs. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced on May 26 that tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will remain in place, citing a persistent trade deficit as the core justification.
The message to America’s two largest trading partners was clear: the era of frictionless cross-border commerce under the USMCA is, at minimum, on pause. And with a mandated review of the trade agreement set to kick off in July 2026, the administration appears to be using tariffs as leverage heading into what could be a contentious renegotiation.
The trade deficit argument
Greer’s rationale centers on a straightforward number. The US still runs a trade deficit with its USMCA partners, meaning it imports more from Canada and Mexico than it exports to them. In Washington’s current framing, that imbalance represents a problem that tariffs are designed to fix.
There is some movement in the direction the administration wants. The trade deficit with USMCA partners has decreased by 24% since April 2025, according to Greer. That’s a meaningful decline, but apparently not enough to warrant lifting the tariffs.
