He said the government must be ready for the prospect of a deal that respects Canadian sovereignty and serves the country’s national interest.

Asked about reports that Mexico and the United States are getting closer to reaching a bilateral trade agreement, LeBlanc said Canadian officials also talk with their counterparts in Mexico.

“They’ve been at this for a number of months,” he said. “We’re focused on the work that we need to do both in the bilateral discussions with the United States and obviously around the review of CUSMA, the trilateral agreement.”

The Trump administration did not extend CUSMA in July. That triggered an annual rolling review of the trade deal that could continue for up to a decade. The deal will expire after that review if all three countries can’t agree on an extension.

LeBlanc said he was encouraged by recent comments by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that suggested it would be beneficial for all three countries to work at the same table.

“We remain optimistic that we’ll get there, and the Mexicans in that sense are very much in the same vein as us,” said LeBlanc.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told a virtual town hall of business owners and industry representatives on Thursday that her government has identified 65 items on the Canadian counter-tariff list that she wants to see removed.

She said the counter-tariffs are hitting $4.9 billion in exports from Alberta businesses, while just $1.8 billion in Alberta exports are exposed to U.S. tariffs.

She said much of Alberta’s counter-tariff exposure is linked to American products used as inputs in manufacturing, or machinery needed for industry.

“The central concern for Alberta is whether companies can maintain access to specialized steel goods, machinery, equipment and construction inputs that aren’t readily available from Canadian suppliers and may not be replaceable from non-U.S. sources within required timelines,” Smith said.

“Our hope is that we would get those removed completely from the counter-tariff list. But also, barring that, be able to work with the federal government on a streamlined remissions process, so that when you do pay those, we can reimburse you.”

Ian Bremmer, an American political scientist and president of the Eurasia Group, suggested Canada should get used to tariffs, no matter who is in the White House.

He told reporters in Banff on Thursday that it’s important for Canada to distinguish between the broader structural changes in U.S. policy and the “unpredictability and unreliability” of Trump himself.

“I do believe that there is permanent damage that has been done to the U.S.-Canada relationship. I do not believe it will ever come back to what it was,” he said. “But I also think there’s a great deal of repair that can and will be done.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2026.

-With files from Jack Farrell in Edmonton, Sarah Smellie in St. John’s and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press