Canada calls for US and Mexico free trade agreement to be renewed for 16 years

TORONTO (AP) — Canada is calling on the United States and Mexico to renew the free trade agreement among their three countries for another 16 years just as U.S. President Donald Trump revives talk of making Canada the 51st state.

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for U.S. trade, sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard conveying Canada’s recommendation.

“The Agreement is highly beneficial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy,” LeBlanc wrote.

LeBlanc said Canada also received letters from Greer and Ebrard. Ebrard said on Tuesday that Mexico would also like it to be extended to 16 years.

The letters come ahead of the scheduled July review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the latest iteration of a North American free trade pact that has intertwined the economies of the United States, Mexico and Canada since the early 1990s. It can either be subject to annual reviews going forward, or renewed for 16 years.

LeBlanc and Canada’s Chief Trade Negotiator Janice Charette were in Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with Greer. LeBlanc said he pre...