Lutnick says Canada's trade deal with China could threaten CUSMA talks
Speaking to Bloomberg, the U.S. commerce secretary said Canada's 'playing with a set of rules that they haven’t really thought through'
Author of the article:Ling Hui
Published Jan 22, 2026 • Last updated 12 hours ago • 1 minute read
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gestures as he attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 21, 2026.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gestures as he attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 21, 2026. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI /AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick criticized Canada’s recent trade deal with China as “political noise” that could upend trade deal renegotiations with the United States.
“Do you think China is going to open their economy to accept exports from Canada? This is the silliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Lutnick said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday while attending the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a deal with China’s President Xi Jinping that saw China’s 100% import tariffs on Canadian canola mostly dropped in return for improved access to Canada’s electric vehicles market.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized the deal due to the potential repercussions for the province’s auto industry, and slammed the Prime Minister for not warning him ahead of the deal’s announcement.
Carney had touted the deal, calling it the result of efforts to build a better relationship with China, whom he called a “predictable” trade partner.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Lutnick called the deal “just political noise coming out of a prime minister.”
He added, “I don’t think it can be real, because he took out the math of Canada’s economy and doing business with the United States of America’s $30 trillion economy. There’s no such thing as changing what they have today.”
Lutnick also said Canada’s deepening trade relations with China could threaten talks with the U.S. over the revamping of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
“Do you think the president of the United States is going to say, ‘You should keep having the second-best deal in the world?’… They are playing with a set of rules that they haven’t really thought through,” Lutnick said.
During his interview with Bloomberg, he said the renegotiation of CUSMA would likely happen in the summer.
Howard Lutnick criticized Canada’s trade deal with China as “political noise” that could upend trade renegotiations with the U.S. Read more.
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