CUSMA should be the venue to discuss trade practices

Submission to Ambassador Greer, United States Trade Representative, regarding a request for comments to assist in reviewing and identifying unfair trade practices and initiating all necessary actions to investigate harm from non-reciprocal trade arrangements.

Re:      USTR-2025-0001

Dear Ambassador Greer,

Please accept this letter as the Business Council of Canada’s (BCC) formal submission in response to the above-noted Request for Comments.

The BCC represents the Chief Executive Officers of Canada’s leading and largest companies, the majority of whom have extensive interests, investments, and operations in the United States. BCC member companies are responsible, both directly and indirectly, for billions of dollars in direct investment into the United States as well as the employment of millions of American workers across all industrial sectors and all U.S. States. 

In our respectful submission, Canada does not currently have in place any unfair trading practices which are causing harm to the United States pursuant to the USTR’s own definition of ‘unfair trading practices’, being any “policies, measures, or barriers that undermine or harm U.S. production, exports, or a failure by a country to take action to address a non-market policy or practice in a way which harms the United States exclusive of any retaliatory measures introduced in response to US tariffs.” This is exclusive of any retaliatory measures introduced in response to U.S. tariffs.

It is our further submission that any non-reciprocal trade arrangements which may exist between Canada and the United States do not cause harm. More specifically, any trade arrangements which are non-reciprocal – being rules, regulations, or restrictions which may not be identical in each country – are not a source of any annual trade deficit in goods as set out in the Presidential Memorandum on Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs. 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Request for Comments invites stakeholders to provide information to assist the USTR in recommending to the President proposed remedies in pursuit of reciprocal trade relations. The BCC submits, with regards to Canada, the appropriate process to report and remedy any non-reciprocal trade arrangements should be the mandatory review of the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). 

The U.S. and Canada have successfully negotiated three comprehensive agreements since 1988 which have served as the legal framework for our trade relations. The most recent of these is the USMCA which was negotiated and signed by President Trump in his first term of office. As the President has stated, the USMCA “brought trade with Mexico and Canada to a level playing field for our wonderful Farmers and Working Families.” 

To the extent non-reciprocal trade arrangements may exist between the U.S. and Canada they should be reviewed within in the context of the USMCA, as it contains express provisions for the ‘joint review’ of the operation of the agreement.  As part of that process, either country may provide recommendations for action. In this respect, we urge that Canada be treated differently than any nation with whom the U.S. has no trade agreement. 

In making this argument, we would note that the Presidential Memorandum on the America First Trade Policy, which was the basis for the current Request for Comments, further directed the USTR to “commence the public consultation process set out in section 4611(b) of title 19, United States Code, with respect to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in preparation for the July 2026 review of the USMCA.” 

The BCC will provide detailed comments as part of those future consultations with regard to the operation of the USMCA. In the interim, we would merely submit that the operation of the USMCA since its coming into force under President Trump has, as set out in the America First Trade Policy, achieved and maintained “the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to free trade agreement partner countries.” 

Yours very truly,

Goldy Hyder

cc:       
Catherine Gibson
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative
Monitoring and Enforcement