Returning From Washington, Tory MP Jivani Says Mexico Is Ahead of Canada in Trade Talks

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani says Mexico is further ahead of Canada when it comes to negotiations on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

“Mexico—the third partner in our trilateral trade agreement with the U.S.—is further ahead in its engagement with the U.S. than Canada is,” Jivani said in a Feb. 8 op-ed in The National Post.

Jivani, who recently returned from a trip to Washington to meet with officials in the Trump administration, noted that Mexico and the United States began formal talks on the USMCA on Jan. 28. A week later, the two countries announced a joint action plan on critical minerals.

Jivani said the Liberal government could be “making similar mistakes” to those it made during the 2017 USMCA negotiations. The United States and Mexico had reached a bilateral agreement in August of that year without Canada, while a trilateral deal was finalized later on Sept. 30.

“It would be a mistake to relive 2017 all over again, if for no other reason than Canadian workers and businesses deserve to have full representation in a process that has such a significant impact on our economy,” Jivani wrote.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Fox Business on Feb. 10 that Mexico is being “quite pragmatic” in the current USMCA negotiations, but that Canada has been “more challenging” to deal with.

Greer said Ottawa continues to have “certain barriers,” such as Canadian provinces like Ontario and Manitoba refusing to sell American wine and spirits. Officials in Washington have also cited Canada’s supply management system, which involves tariffs on certain dairy products that exceed quotas, as a trade irritant.

“There are a variety of issues that they have not addressed and they aren’t addressing, and this makes it a big challenge and an obstacle for starting real negotiations with them,” Greer said.

Greer also said that America’s trade relationship with Mexico is “very different” from its relationship with Canada, and so the negotiations are “going to proceed bilaterally and separately.”

Washington Trip

In his op-ed, Jivani said his trip to Washington, D.C., involved “excellent conversations” with U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jivani’s long-time friend Vice President J.D. Vance. He also met with Senators from several states that border Canada, as well as U.S. Trade Representative Greer.

Jivani said businesses and industries “employing thousands of Canadians” also shared insights with him on Canada-U.S. trade. He said there was “optimism” on how trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. could proceed.

Jivani said he also provided his perspective to U.S. officials on why the USMCA is important for his riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North, where 1,200 automotive workers were recently laid off at General Motors’ Oshawa assembly plant.

The Conservative MP said he wanted to debrief Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc before he said “too much publicly,” and hoped this could lead to further collaboration between the governing Liberals and the Conservative Party on trade negotiations with the United States.

When Carney was asked by reporters on Feb. 4 about Jivani’s planned trip to Washington, he said LeBlanc gave a briefing to the Tory MP. He noted Jivani is not the trade critic for the Opposition, while suggesting that the trip was more about garnering media attention.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also asked by reporters about what advice he gave to Jivani, and responded that he has told all MPs to “fight for jobs in your community.”