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Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
This summer’s review of CUSMA could trigger negotiations, or not. Even if President Trump decides not to negotiate and to let the treaty lapse, it doesn’t mean that it lapses overnight. It doesn’t actually expire until 2036 - by which time President Trump will be long out of office and Secretary Bessent could very well be in prison.
The only way for the U.S. to end CUSMA prior to 2036 would be to unilaterally withdraw, which they can do on six months’ notice - but likely not without Congressional approval - which would be very hard to get. And even if Trump tried to do it without such approval, his decision would immediately be challenged in court which could take years to sort out.
And even if they did that, they would also need to withdraw from the original 1989 U.S.-Canada FTA, which they would also need Congressional approval to do.
My point - stay calm and don’t listen to anything Scott Bessent says. He’s trying to play the bully, but he is nothing more than a soft-handed investment banker so he isn’t very good at it. Hopefully this Trump administration will be fully neutered by this year’s Midterm elections, and if we’re really lucky some of his more offensive cabinet secretaries (and Ambassador Pete Hoekstra) will be impeached and/or removed.
PM Carney is right - the world has changed and we are never going back to “normal,” but at the very least I look forward to the day when Trump and his enablers no longer appear in the news - with one eventual exception.
As Clarence Darrow said: “I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”