Blazingcatfur

OTTAWA – Days after the Trump administration decided to require annual reviews of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement instead of renewing it in its current form until 2042, the Canadian government says significant uncertainty remains over the next steps in trade negotiations.

“We don’t have any more predictability about the annual review process because this is somewhat uncharted territory. It’s not typical for this kind of agreement,” Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a telephone interview Friday.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra’s speech at his Fourth of July party in Ottawa included a political nudge aimed at Canada, with American F-35 fighter jets flying over the crowd and a comment about some provinces’ bans on American booze.

Hoekstra set a goal on stage outside his official residence to get American liquor back on Canadian shelves by his next Independence Day party.

“Next year, hopefully we can all take a toast of American bourbon legally in the province of Ontario,” Hoekstra said. “And toast the friendship and the relationship between the United States and Canada.”

For months, policymakers, businesses and trade watchers in Washington had been bracing for a turbulent spring and summer around the future of the USMCA, the trade pact binding the United States, Canada and Mexico.

But, to quote former UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, “Events, dear boy, events.” The war with Iran has dominated Washington’s attention, stripping away much of the political heat that was expected to surround the pact’s renewal.