Prior to the discussion of the T-MEC in 2026, the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo; the president of the United States, Donald Trump; and the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, will meet for the first time in the same place, during the draw for the 2026 World Cup, to be held this Friday in Washington.
This morning, during his press conference, Sheinbaum Pardo confirmed that he will have “a small meeting with President Trump and another with the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney,” tomorrow.
The Office of the Prime Minister of Canada also confirmed that Carney will hold meetings with Trump and Sheinbaum, while the White House has not yet commented on the matter.
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The three leaders of North America will meet for the first time in the same space, the Kennedy Center in Washington, where the draw for the 2026 World Cup will be held, of which the three countries are hosts.
The meetings, which are expected to be brief, will occur after On Wednesday, Trump will indicate that he will possibly let the T-MEC, a free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, expire, and that he will seek a new trade agreement with his neighbors.
Sheinbaum and Trump will meet face to face for the first time
It will be the first face to face between Trump and Sheinbaum. Both were scheduled to meet at the G7 summit in Canada last June, but the meeting did not take place because the American returned to Washington a day earlier to focus on the crisis with Iran.
The United States is pausing the 30% tariffs announced against Mexico in retaliation for fentanyl trafficking, in order to leave room for negotiation with the Sheinbaum Government, with which it maintains a more fluid relationship than with Canada.
For his part, Carney will try to redirect bilateral relations after Trump suspended trade negotiations in October in retaliation for the broadcast on television of a Canadian advertisement against US tariffs.
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Trump also increased tariffs affecting Canadian imports not included in the USMCA from 25% to 35%. Since then, Canada has tried several times to restart negotiations, although without success.
Carney had a brief meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, during which he apologized for the broadcast of the television ad.
An uncertain future for the T-MEC
In 2026, the United States, Mexico and Canada must review the USMCA, an agreement negotiated during Trump’s first term and which came into force in 2020, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the Republican considered harmful to the United States.
The three countries must decide whether to extend it for another 16 years, until 2042, or if they review it annually until 2036, when the USMCA would end if they do not decide otherwise.
Mexico and Canada have expressed their preference for renewal, but Trump opened the door on Wednesday to letting the treaty expire and seeking another agreement: “We will let it expire or maybe we will reach another agreement with Mexico and Canada.”said the American president, who assured that his neighbors have taken advantage of the United States.
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