Trump says ‘it wouldn’t matter to me’ if CUSMA left to expire this year

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Canada-United States-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA) is not relevant for the U.S. but Canada wants it, as he pushed for companies to bring manufacturing back to American soil.

“There’s no real advantage to it, it’s irrelevant to me,” Trump said. “Canada would love it. Canada wants it. They need it.”

Trump made the comments as he toured a Ford Motor Co. factory in Dearborn, Michigan, ahead of a speech on the economy he was scheduled to deliver in Detroit.

“I don’t even think about USMCA,” he said with a shrug, using the American acronym for the trade pact. “I want to see Canada and Mexico do well, but the problem is we don’t need their product. You know, we don’t need cars made in Canada. We don’t need cars made in Mexico. We want to make them here. And that’s what’s happening.”

CUSMA is up for review this year to decide whether it will be left to expire or another deal will be worked out.

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The trade pact, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and was negotiated during Trump’s first term as president, requires the three countries to hold a joint review after six years.

“It expires very shortly, and we could have it or not. It wouldn’t matter to me,” Trump said Tuesday. “I think they want it. I don’t really care about it.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney and other top Canadian officials have cast doubt on the possibility that Trump will withdraw the U.S. from CUSMA, but have acknowledged changes will likely be made to the agreement.

—With additional files from Global News