U.S. Commerce Secretary Slams Canada, Signals Rethink of North American Trade Deal

Howard Lutnick, President Trump’s commerce secretary, derided Canada’s trade strategy and said a North American deal needed to be reworked.

Point Summary

· Speaker & Context:

o Howard Lutnick, U.S. Commerce Secretary, speaking at a Semafor conference.

o Remarks made as U.S., Canada, and Mexico prepare for joint review of USMCA by July 2026.

· Criticism of Canada:

o Called Canada’s trade strategy “the worst strategy I ever heard.”

o Said Canada “sucks off” America’s $30 trillion economy.

o Dismissed Canadian outreach to China as “nuts.”

· USMCA Position:

o Lutnick: President Trump believes USMCA is a “bad deal” and “bad industrial policy.”

o Stated it harmed America despite containing “plenty of good.”

o Administration preparing to renegotiate the agreement.

· White House Clarification:

o Spokesman Kush Desai said Lutnick was “misquoted.”

o Asserted Lutnick meant Canada and allies have long taken advantage of U.S. economy.

· Economic Outlook:

o Lutnick projected 6% U.S. growth, despite recent data showing 2.1% growth in 2025.

o Highlighted foreign investment promises but ruled out Chinese automaker joint ventures.

· Canada’s Response:

o PM Mark Carney’s January China visit secured limited EV-agriculture tariff deal.

o Canadian negotiators, led by Dominic LeBlanc, now seeking a comprehensive and fast agreement.

o LeBlanc described recent 45-minute call with Lutnick as “productive.”

· Backdrop:

o Trump froze talks in October 2025, blaming Canada over an Ontario-funded anti-tariff ad.

o Trump and Carney clashed at Davos in January 2026 over Canada’s role as a “middle power.”

[ABS News Service/20.04.2026]

Howard Lutnick, the U.S. secretary of commerce, said on Friday that President Trump was committed to reining in the North American trade deal and blasted Canada for its trade negotiating strategy, adding, “They suck.”

A spokesman for the Department of Commerce said that Mr. Lutnick was describing America’s unfair trade imbalance with Canada and how Canada “sucks off” America’s $30 trillion economy.

Mr. Lutnick, who was speaking at a conference organized by the media outlet Semafor, was particularly critical of Canada’s effort to push back against the Trump administration. He dismissed a former Canadian trade official’s suggestion — that Canada could benefit from negotiating more slowly because political pressure on the Trump administration was increasing — as “the worst strategy I ever heard.”

Asked if Mr. Trump was committed to extending the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal he renegotiated in his first term, Mr. Lutnick responded that the president “thinks it’s a bad deal.”

While some of the U.S. relationship with Canada and Mexico was “fundamental,” Mr. Lutnick said, the trade deal overall was “a bad industrial policy that harmed America.”

“There’s plenty of good in it, but there’s a huge amount of bad in it,’’ he added. “And it needs to be reconsidered for the benefit of America.”

Kush Desai, a spokesman for the White House, said that Mr. Lutnick was “being misquoted.” He added, “Secretary Lutnick was correctly pointing out how Canada, along with many other ‘allies,’ has been taking advantage of the American economy and people for decades.”

In his remarks, Mr. Lutnick touted investments in the United States promised by foreign countries, but said that the administration was not considering allowing Chinese automakers like BYD to open up joint ventures in the United States.

He also projected that U.S. economic growth would hit 6 percent. Data released in March showed the economy grew 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, and 2.1 percent in 2025 overall.

Mr. Lutnick also derided the recent outreach by Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to China as “nuts,” saying the United States was the “consumer of the world.”

“Carney has a problem with us,” Mr. Lutnick said. “He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think China, the Chinese economy is going to buy his stuff?”

Mr. Carney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a visit to China in January, Mr. Carney struck a limited agreement to permit 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles a year into Canada on a low-tariff basis in exchange for the removal of Chinese tariffs on a number of vital Canadian agricultural products.

The Trump administration has been preparing to once again renegotiate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A., a deal that Mr. Trump concluded in his first term to replace the decades-old North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S.M.C.A. requires the three countries to carry out a joint review of their trade deal by July.

The disparaging comments were not new: Mr. Lutnick has expressed his disdain for Canada and its trade positions in the past.

But they were made at a moment of relative calm in the strained relationship between the two partners and allies, as they prepare to enter negotiations over their trade agreement. Mr. Trump froze talks in October, blaming Canada, because of an ad financed by the province of Ontario that used an anti-tariff speech by former President Ronald Reagan.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney also clashed in January, following Mr. Carney’s landmark speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos during which he called for middle powers like Canada to band together to survive the tumult and change of the current era.

Mr. Trump took exception to the speech. “Canada lives because of the United States,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

More recently, though, the Canadian side has been trying to strike a civil tone and turn the temperature down as trade talks restart.

On Thursday, Dominic LeBlanc, a senior Canadian minister who leads talks with the United States, said that Canada wanted a comprehensive agreement and fast.

“I would have hoped that by last fall we would have resolved part of the situation,” Mr. LeBlanc said of the existing U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and other goods. “Now we’re back around the table to do the work. It is moving forward. I can assure you of that.”

He added that he had spoken with Mr. Lutnick by phone last week, describing the 45-minute call as “productive.”