Canada says USMCA review date is milestone, not cliff

Canada’s top trade negotiator is signaling that the July 1 review of the North American trade pact is a checkpoint, not a cliff, and that distinction matters for companies planning across the border. Janice Charette said Ottawa does not expect every dispute with Washington to be resolved by the 2026 review date, but she stressed that failure to settle everything would not mean the agreement collapses.

That message is aimed squarely at exporters, manufacturers and investors who rely on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, known in the United States as USMCA and in Canada as CUSMA. The pact entered into force on July 1, 2020, and its joint review is set for July 1, 2026. If the three countries do not agree to extend it for another 16 years, the deal can shift into annual reviews and remain in place until 2036, a structure many businesses see as a source of added uncertainty.

The stakes are substantial. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says CUSMA drives about $3.6 billion in trade across the Canada-U.S. border every day. It also says North American trade has risen 47% since 2020 and supported 4 million new jobs. That is why even a stable legal framework can still feel fragile when sector-specific fights continue to drag on.

Those fights are already real. Canada’s trade relationship with the United States has been partly shielded from the broad global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, but steel, aluminum, autos and lumber remain flash points. Canada imposed 25% tariffs on non-CUSMA-compliant vehicles from the United States and on non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of CUSMA-compliant vehicles on April 9, 2025. The federal government later removed counter-tariffs on most U.S. imports effective September 1, 2025, while keeping tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles in place.

Both countries have begun laying the groundwork for the review. The Office of the United States Trade Representative launched a public consultation on September 16, 2025 and scheduled a public hearing for November 17, 2025, with comments covering how the agreement works, compliance, proposed actions, the investment climate, and North American economic security and competitiveness. Canada held consultations in 2024 and again from September 20 to November 3, 2025 to gather input for the review.

Charette, who made her remarks in Ottawa in her first public appearance since becoming Canada’s chief trade negotiator in February, said Canada has not started formal negotiations with Washington. Still, both sides have been working through specific tariff disputes, including softwood lumber. For companies that depend on predictable rules, the next phase looks less like a cliff edge than a long, messy stretch of bargaining.