Carney Taps Canada CEOs for Advice on U.S.-Canada Relations as Crucial Trade Talks Loom -- 2nd Update

Published: 2026-04-21 11:17:26 ET CNR.TO

Published on 04/21/2026 at 11:17 am EDT

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Prime Minister Mark Carney has tapped chief executives from some of the Canada's biggest companies to advise federal officials on its relationship with the U.S., which the Canadian leader has declared to be a source of economic weakness.

Their appointment to an advisory panel comes as the future of a North American trade treaty that has--with some notable exceptions--largely shielded Canadian exports from President Trump's hefty tariffs is in doubt as Washington begins a formal review this summer. Trump administration officials say the treaty, known as USMCA, requires significant changes, and have mused about breaking up the pact into two bilateral deals.

There also remain tensions between Washington and Ottawa over trade. Analysts warn that the lack of meaningful progress in U.S.-Canada talks to date does not bode well for the future of the $700 billion bilateral trade relationship.

Carney said Tuesday the new advisory committee will provide expertise on U.S.-Canada relations, weeks before Washington begins a formal review USMCA. Trump administration officials say preliminary talks with Canada have proven challenging, whereas negotiations with Mexico have proven fruitful and are moving to an advanced stage.

Among the Canadian CEOs Carney has named to the 24-member panel are Darryl White of Bank of Montreal; Tracy Robinson of Canadian National Railway; Ken Seitz of Nutrien; François Poirier of TC Energy; and Jonathan Price of Teck Resources.

Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also established an advisory council, although Carney's version is notable for the inclusion of blue-chip CEOs whose companies rely on sales to the U.S. to drive earnings.

The committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting on April 27, Carney said.

Over the weekend, Carney released a 10-minute statement on YouTube that focused on his government's plan to restructure Canada's economic and security landscape to address the threats posed by the Trump administration. "Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses, weaknesses that we must correct," Carney said.

Carney said it's crucial that Canada strike deeper trading ties with other parts of the world. "We can't control the disruption coming from our neighbors. We bet our future on the hope that it will suddenly stop. But we can control what happens here," Carney said in a video titled "Forward Guidance."

Eric Miller, head of the Washington-based trade consultancy Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, said Carney's video statement marks a warning from the Liberal government that USMCA renewal talks might fail. "The relationship is headed very much on a wrong track, and we could end up with a very bad outcome from an economic cooperation perspective." He added that Canadian officials unwilling to agree to terms similar to what other jurisdictions, like the European Union and Japan, had initially signed onto, whereby the U.S. slaps tariffs on imports while levies on American goods are either lifted or eased.

"Ottawa's view is that it has a free-trade agreement, and integrated continental economy where the trade dynamics are vastly different," Miller said.

Carney last week secured a majority of the seats in the federal legislature, through persuading opposition-party lawmakers to defect and victories in special elections to fill vacancies. This gives Carney, a former chief central banker, a freer hand to implement his policy agenda, which is focused on accelerating the construction of resource projects and new trade corridors to help sell an increasing share of goods and services to non-U.S. markets.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week criticized Canada's trade strategy ahead of the USMCA renegotiation, including Ottawa's agreement with China to relax tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. "They suck," Lutnick said of Canada, in reference to how Canada extracts benefits from America's $30 trillion economy without reciprocal benefits to the U.S.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico is keen to cut a deal with the U.S. prior to USMCA talks beginning in earnest on tariffs for steel, aluminum and automobiles. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who was in Mexico City on Monday, said talks with Mexico have moved to an advanced stage, with the first official bilateral negotiating round on USMCA to begin in late May.

Greer earlier this month said the U.S. "have some issues" with Canada "that haven't been resolved yet." Canada's minister in charge of trade with the U.S., Dominic LeBlanc, said Ottawa and Washington have had conversations and he's optimistic the talks will succeed.

Polling conducted earlier this year in Canada by the Vancouver-based Angus Reid Institute suggested that only 21% of Canadians hold a favorable view of the U.S., and nearly 70% prefer that Carney and federal officials treat the U.S. as a potential threat rather than as an ally.

Write to Paul Vieira at [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-21-26 1116ET