By Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump met with the leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss trade issues on Friday after the leaders hosted the 2026 World Cup draw at Washington’s storied Kennedy Center.
The White House said Trump held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after the star-studded event, but gave no details on their discussions.
Canadian media said the meeting lasted for 45 minutes and the leaders spoke on their own, with no staff present.
Trump was upbeat about the talks before the meetings, saying trade and immigration would be on the agenda.
“We’re going to meet with both, and we’re getting along very well,” Trump told reporters as he arrived for the event.
Trump chatted with Carney and Sheinbaum as they watched one of the biggest events in the sporting world from a box at the Washington arts venue, after the trio appeared on a game show-like stage together to “draw” their individual country’s names.
Trump, who has campaigned aggressively this year for a Nobel Peace Prize, was given an inaugural peace prize by FIFA for his efforts to promote dialogue and de-escalation in some of the world’s biggest hotspots.
The meeting came as the United States, Mexico and Canada prepare for a mandatory 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.
It was Sheinbaum’s 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)
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