Canada, Mexico want a trilateral agreement under USMCA review, Canadian minister says

By Promit Mukherjee

OTTAWA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The Canadian minister responsible for Canada-United States trade said Wednesday that Mexico was keen to maintain a trilateral agreement under the free trade pact between the three North American neighbors that is up for review this year.

"I am reassured by the Mexican economy secretary ... his desire to work with Canada and to ensure that the review of CUSMA results in a strengthened and ongoing trilateral trade arrangement," Dominic LeBlanc said in a press conference from Mexico.

LeBlanc is heading a group of over 370 delegates to Mexico for a six-day trade mission amid fears that U.S. President Donald Trump could ditch the decades-old three-way free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada when it comes up for review later this year.

"The Mexicans have very similar interests to Canada," LeBlanc said.

"We both remain absolutely committed to the trilateral free trade agreement and working together as this review process unfolds," he added.

Both countries want to ensure that some of the sectoral tariffs thatTrump has imposed are lowered and the review of the free trade pact can be completed successfully, he said.

In September, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged to deepen ties between their two countries, as well as strengthen the free trade pact they share with the United States.

Mexico and Canada are the United States' largest and second-largest trading partners, respectively, while the U.S. is the No.1 trading partner for both. And both countries are battling a raft of tariffs from Trump.

LeBlanc said that during the trade mission, Canadian companies have signed 15 commercial partnerships with Mexico and there will be more discussions in the coming days.

LeBlanc said he will be meeting with the U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in the next few weeks to discuss the review of the free trade pact, called CUSMA in Canada, adding that as the review discussions approach, it will not be hard for Canada to find a common ground with the U.S. and Mexico.