Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he wants bilateral trade deals with the U.S. and Mexico “now” instead of in 2026, when the three countries review their North American trade agreement.
Ford spoke to reporters on Thursday and repeated his criticism of Mexico over Chinese investment in the country.
“They’ve had an opportunity to fix these concerns for years and they just don’t want to,” Ford said. “So they’ve shown their cards and we’ll do a bilateral trade deal with them, and a separate one with the U.S.”
When questioned by reporters about waiting until 2026, when Canada, the United States and Mexico will review their current trilateral pact, Ford said he wants to see bilateral deals negotiated “now.”
On Wednesday, Ford chaired a call with all 13 provincial and territorial premiers. Afterwards, he said all the premiers are aligned on his push for the federal government to negotiate a bilateral deal with the United States.
When asked specifically if the premiers bought into his idea to exclude Mexico from that agreement, Ford said they had.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pushing for a new bilateral trade deal solely with the United States — and he says all 13 premiers are on board. Speaking exclusively to CBC News on Thursday, Ford says he wants to push the new agreement through immediately.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey told reporters in Ottawa that what the premiers agreed upon was a contingency plan.
Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Power & Politics that she agreed with Ford’s proposal to cut Mexico out of the North American trade agreement if it doesn’t tighten up restrictions on Chinese products.
“I’m very much in sync with what [Ford] has to say,” Smith told host David Cochrane.
Mexico’s president acknowledges concerns
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged Thursday that Canada is concerned about reports that a Chinese company is planning to build an auto plant in Mexico. She said that plant does not currently exist.
Sheinbaum said she talked recently to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and he assured her he did not support excluding Mexico from the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement.
“The prime minister does not agree with taking Mexico out of the treaty. He told me so clearly,” Sheinbaum said after meeting with Trudeau during this week’s G20 summit in Brazil.
“He asked me about a Chinese company’s auto plant and if there was a plant in Mexico,” she said, adding that the company’s only North American plant is in California.
That’s an apparent reference to Chinese automaker BYD, which reportedly has been planning to build a plant in Mexico but hasn’t done so yet.
Sheinbaum attributed Ford’s call with the other premiers to domestic political jockeying in Canada. “They use these issues as part of an electoral campaign,” she said.
There is a Chinese vehicle assembly plant in Mexico, operated by Giant Motors, which assembles JAC brand vehicles, largely from imported parts. But there is no evidence it exports any significant part of its production to the United States or Canada.
During a press conference on Thursday, Trudeau said the current trilateral pact “has been incredibly successful” for all three countries’ economies.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his first choice is to see the trade agreement with Mexico and U.S. continue, but noted concerns about Chinese investment in Mexico.
While Trudeau said his “first choice” is to continue the trilateral pact, he added that “there have been real and genuine concerns raised about Chinese investment into Mexico that I brought up directly with the Mexican president.”
Trudeau also said that “pending decisions and choices that Mexico has made, we may have to look at other options.
“But let me just say it again. My ideal situation is we continue to work well together to protect jobs in North America from overcapacity or economic coercion that other countries have been responsible for.”