Canada-U.S. trade pause puts pressure on the next round of negotiations

U.S. officials are signalling that Washington is comfortable with the current pause in trade negotiations with Canada. That leaves Ottawa balancing two goals: keeping negotiating channels open while giving Canadian businesses more certainty about tariffs and market access.

The bigger issue is no longer whether the two economies remain deeply connected. They do. The question is what the next workable agreement looks like when both governments are placing more weight on domestic industry and economic security.