Trump says he will talk trade with leaders of Mexico, Canada at World Cup draw

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By Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said he will meet with the leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss trade issues on Friday after the leaders gather in Washington for the 2026 World Cup draw. 

“We’re going to meet with both, and we’re getting along very well,” Trump said as he arrived for the draw at the Kennedy Center. 

Asked by a reporter during a red carpet arrival if they would discuss immigration and trade, Trump said they would. 

Trump chatted with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as they viewed the event from a box at the Kennedy Center arts venue. All three appeared on stage to kick off the event. 

The White House has not released details about the meeting or said whether the president would meet the two leaders separately. The meeting takes place as the United States, Mexico and Canada prepare for the 2026 formal review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement amid rising U.S. tariffs and calls by Washington to renegotiate or possibly withdraw from the pact.

Sheinbaum on Thursday said she would meet briefly with Trump and Carney during her visit to the United States. It will be her first in-person meeting with Trump since she took office in October last year.

 Trump has been broadly complimentary of the Mexican leader while pushing the country to do more to combat drug cartels and the flow of narcotics such as fentanyl to the United States. He has vowed to maintain a 25% U.S. tariff on Mexican goods that are not compliant with the USMCA, pending more progress in the drug fight.

Relations have been more tense with Canada.

Trump had an amicable meeting with Carney in October, but then suspended all trade talks with Canada after the province of Ontario aired an advertisement using video of former President Ronald Reagan warning that tariffs lead to trade wars and economic disaster. Trump also threatened to increase duties on Canadian imports, though he has yet to follow through.

USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and was negotiated during Trump’s first term as president, requires the three countries to hold a joint review after six years.

Trump could decide next year to withdraw from the trade agreement, Politico reported on Thursday, citing U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Greer did not repeat the comment at an event later on Thursday, telling an interviewer that USMCA was the law of the land, a law passed by Congress, and that Canada and Mexico were the United States’ largest export destinations.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Andrea Shalal, Promit Mukherjee, Doina Chiacu; Editing by Katharine Jackson, Colleen Jenkins and Andrea Ricci)