EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will leave the G7 summit on Wednesday without a formal meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump as the free trade agreement between their countries faces an uncertain future.Canadian leaders typically get a bilateral meeting with American presidents at summits of the world’s leading industrialized democracies, but Carney dismissed any notion of a snub.“I wouldn’t take a big message from that,” Carney said. “I had seven or eight discussions with President Trump over the course of last 36 hours. I’ll have more today, a wide range of subjects from the economy, relations, his birthday, artificial intelligence, Ukraine, obviously Iran.”It is a crucial moment in trade talks for the latest iteration of the North American free-trade pact that has intertwined the economies of Canada, the United State and Mexico since the early 1990s. The agreement is up for renewal on July 1. Trump said last week he may not renew the deal.
Preserving the accord is critical for Canada, which sends about 75% of its exports to the U.S.Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for trade with the U.S., and Janice Charette, Canada’s chief negotiator, met with U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer at the summit. LeBlanc said they made progress.
