Ottawa is “open” to renegotiating Canada’s free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico a year ahead of the 2026 deadline, Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand says.
Trade talks with the United States are currently at the top of the federal government’s agenda, Anand said during a Feb. 13 interview with CTV’s Power Play.
“We are very open to having that conversation as early as the Trump administration would like,” Anand said, describing the trade relationship between Canada and the United States as the “most successful in the world.”
Trump has previously said a trade deficit exists between the two countries, specifically identifying the dairy and agriculture sectors and the automotive manufacturing industry. The U.S. government has long voiced concern about access to the Canadian market. Canada granted U.S. dairy farmers access to roughly 3.5 percent of its domestic market under the free trade agreement.
Anand said Ottawa will continue to defend its interests and supply management chains in the face of reciprocal tariffs targeting Canadian industries.
“We look forward to going to the table with the U.S. administration to negotiate the points that they are making,” she said.
“But make no mistake, Canada, as a sovereign country, will always stand up for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers and the Canadian agricultural sector as well,” she added.
She said the supply-managed sectors are “really important to the Canadian economy,” and were negotiated as part of the free trade agreement during Trump’s first term as president.
Anand said while Ottawa is open to trade negotiations, it will “stand up for” Canadian industry and businesses.
She used Trump’s plan of putting 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from Canada next month as an example. Canadian exports of steel are roughly US$8 billion, Canadian exports of aluminium are approximately US$11 billion, Anand said.
New Partnerships
Anand also said Canada should move away from its reliance on the United States as a destination for its exports. This would mean seeking new partnerships abroad and removing trade barriers between provinces in Canada, she said.She pointed to the Indo-Pacific as a key area for trade and said Canada is in a healthy position to diversify because it is the lone G7 country to have a trade agreement with every other G7 country.
“We need to diversify our supply chains so we are not reliant to the tune of 80 percent on the U.S. economy,” Anand said. “We need to leverage our natural resources and our raw materials so we can take advantage of those free trade agreements.”
Free trade at home is just as important, Anand said, adding that the national economy could be stimulated through the elimination of internal barriers among Canadian provinces.
“On internal barriers to trade, we need to eliminate those, they need to come down so we can add up to $200 billion to the Canadian economy,” she said. “One Canadian economy, not 13, so we can continue to grow our domestic economy without going through Donald Trump at all.”
Trump has continued to promote the idea that Canada should be absorbed into the United States as its “51st state” during his comments to American media outlets, while maintaining that the U.S. doesn’t need any of Canada’s products or resources.
Trump has been floating the idea of Canada joining the United States since November. While Canadian politicians originally thought the comments to be made in jest, Ottawa is now taking them seriously.
Like Trudeau and several other government officials, Anand is adamant that will never happen.
“Canada will never become the 51st state,” she said during the Feb. 13 interview. “Canada is a sovereign, free and strong country, and that will be the case now and forever. Period.”
