TORONTO (AP) — Canada is calling on the United States and Mexico to renew the free trade agreement between the countries for another 16 years just as U.S. President Donald Trump revives talk of making Canada the 51st state.Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for U.S. trade, sent a letter Tuesday to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard conveying Canada’s recommendation.“The Agreement is highly beneficial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy,” LeBlanc wrote.The letter comes ahead of the scheduled July review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the latest iteration of a North American free-trade pact that has intertwined the economies of the United States, Mexico and Canada since the early 1990s.LeBlanc and Canada’s Chief Trade Negotiator, Janice Charette, are in Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with Greer. LeBlanc has previously warned the free trade agreement could be subject to annual reviews and that uncertainty could be the objective of the Trump administration.
On Monday, Trump posted “51st State!” on social media linking to a news article reporting that Canada is falling into a technical recession. The post was later reposted by U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra.
