The head of Canada’s largest province is dipping his toe into new territory — talking about removing Mexico from the North American trade agreement.
On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford floated the idea of returning to a Canada-U.S. bilateral pact like the one that predated the enactment of NAFTA in 1994.
The impetus for his comments was Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election win — a potentially game-changing event with implications for trade and security arrangements around the world.
Ford alluded to the likely difficult review ahead for the pact known in Canada as CUSMA (the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement). The agreement must be revised starting in 2026 or it will expire after a decade.
One of the greatest challenges facing that review is U.S. frustration with Chinese-owned car plants popping up in Mexico. Ford referred to those plants in a media statement.
“Free trade needs to be fair,” Ford said Tuesday.
“Since signing on to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Mexico has allowed itself to become a backdoor for Chinese cars, auto parts and other products into Canadian and American markets, putting Canadian and American workers’ livelihoods at risk while undermining our communities.”
Ford called for Mexico to place tariffs on Chinese imports to keep its car parts from the continental supply chain.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Mexico is undercutting Canadian workers by serving as a back door for Chinese imports. On Tuesday, Ford issued a statement floating a possible bilateral trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada.
“If Mexico won’t fight transshipment by, at the very least, matching Canadian and American tariffs on Chinese imports,” he added, “they shouldn’t have a seat at the table or enjoy access to the largest economy in the world.
“Instead, we must prioritize the closest economic partnership on earth by directly negotiating a bilateral U.S.-Canada free trade agreement.”
Ford was more explicit in a news conference later Tuesday. He made it clear he’s proposing that the federal government seek a bilateral trade deal with the U.S., and maybe a separate bilateral deal with Mexico.
Some of the most complex challenges in renewing the continental pact involve Mexico. They include economic issues orders of magnitude larger than U.S. qualms about Canadian dairy and digital taxes.
In addition to the proliferation of Chinese-owned car plants, Washington is also concerned about growing state influence over Mexico’s oil companies.
When asked recently about the idea of returning to a bilateral Canada-U.S.-only trade pact, a federal official told CBC News this is not Canada’s policy — not right now, at least.
While the federal government did not endorse Ford’s message, it didn’t distance itself from it either.
When asked about it, a spokesperson for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday pointed to the tariffs Canada has imposed on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum.
“Canada firmly believes that action is necessary to level the playing field for Canadian workers in the face of China’s intentional, state-directed policy of overcapacity,” Katherine Cuplinskas, Freeland’s director of communications, said in a media statement. “Canada will not be a back door to other markets, especially to our most important friend and ally, the United States.”
Booting Mexico from the pact would be opposed by large companies with business in all three countries.
Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. election, Premier Doug Ford says his government will try to fight any possible tariffs and continue to highlight to Trump’s team the close trade relationship that the U.S. has with Canada, and Ontario. CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp has more.
It also would be viewed skeptically by some who see Mexico as a political ally in preserving U.S. congressional backing for North American trade.
The huge commercial flow across the Mexico-U.S. border, along with the enormous Mexican-American population, creates support for the pact among southern U.S. lawmakers with fewer connections to Canada.
Canadian auto companies have been sounding the alarm about Chinese investments in Mexico and the potential political blowback in the U.S.
“The premier is hitting an important note that’s been making the rounds in Washington for some time,” Flavio Volpe, the head of Canada’s auto-parts lobby, tweeted Tuesday.
“The Chinese are relentless in their strategies to access the North American market and all partners have a share in the responsibility to protect it.”