From dairy to critical minerals, Carney’s advisory council signals battlegrounds in U.S. trade talks

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday named a new advisory council on Canada-U.S. economic relations, expanding the number of voices, especially from industry, shaping Ottawa’s approach to looming U.S trade talks.

The council is made up of 24 members, including industry executives, union leaders and veterans such as former Quebec premier Jean Charest and former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. Only four members of the previous 18-member council remain from the Justin Trudeau government.

It will meet for the first time on April 27, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement, as Canada prepares for a July review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or CUSMA, which sets the rules for most of the country’s trade relationship with the U.S., its largest trading partner.

But since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office in early 2025, he has imposed tariffs on Canadian goods, upending the trade relationship, though so far a significant proportion of Canadian products have been exempt under CUSMA rules.

Diya Jiang, a researcher at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy who focusses on the politics of international trade, especially the U.S-Canada relationship, said the council’s composition reflects the pressures facing Canada.

“We’re seeing a lot more stakeholders,” Jiang said. “And these are very key stakeholders of U.S.-Canada trade, and they’re very severely affected by the current tariff situation.”

“There is a lot of merit in keeping some of the core group,” she said, adding that figures like Charest bring experience dealing with past Trump-era negotiations. 

Still, the new council, she said, moves away from what she described as a “policy elite insider approach” under the Trudeau government.

It also points to what Ottawa may expect to confront at the negotiating table.

“I think we can understand a little bit of what issues the government anticipates will be on the table,” Jiang said. 

With representatives from energy and mining, she added, “critical minerals is going to be at least an issue.”

“Dairy is also a very sensitive topic,” she added. “And it’s one the United States has really put a lot of heat on.”

Quebec’s dairy sector generates more than $6 billion a year in economic activity and supports tens of thousands of jobs, according to Les Producteurs de lait du Québec. The province’s broader export economy — including aluminum, forestry and critical minerals — is also closely tied to U.S. demand and ultimately its trading relationship.

Though one notable omission from the council is direct representation for the aerospace sector. Industry groups contacted by The Gazette did not respond before publication.

Under CUSMA, the three countries can choose on July 1 to renew the deal for another 16 years. However, both Janice Charette, Canada’s chief trade negotiator, and Jamieson Greer, a United States Trade Representative, have said trade issues are unlikely to be settled by the July deadline.

Just in recent days, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the North American trade deal a “bad deal” for Americans that could be allowed to “lapse” this summer.

He also called Carney’s move to allow Chinese electric vehicles into Canada “nuts.”

And in a video address over the weekend, Carney warned that Canada’s deep economic ties to the United States had become a source of vulnerability.

“There’s a big shift in how to approach the United States,” Jiang said. “We are accepting that perhaps we don’t know what’s going to happen. The focus of his administration is not to just bet on the United States, but to diversify.”

Jiang noted, however, that while rhetoric around the relationship has intensified, it may not reflect how negotiations ultimately unfold.

“Sometimes political rhetoric is one thing, and it might be different from the outcome,” she said. “Especially with the Trump administration, we shouldn’t focus too much on what’s being said, but on what’s happening in the actual negotiation.”

List of advisory committee members

• P.J. Akeeagok — former premier of Nunavut
• Cameron Bailey — CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival
• Ron Bedard — president and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Dofasco
• Valérie Beaudoin — researcher at the Observatory on the United States
• Tabatha Bull — president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business
• Jean Charest — former premier of Quebec, former leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party
• Émile Cordeau — CEO of Agropur Coopérative
• Dennis Darby — president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
• Ralph Goodale — former Liberal minister, former high commissioner to the U.K.
• Michael Harvey — executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
• Candace Laing — president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
• Erin O’Toole — former Conservative Party leader
• Lana Payne — national president of Unifor
• Magali Picard — president of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)
• François Poirier — president and CEO of TC Energy
• Jonathan Price — CEO of Teck
• Lisa Raitt — former Conservative minister
• Tracy Robinson — CEO of Canadian National Railway
• Ken Seitz — CEO of Nutrien
• Jean Simard — president and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada
• Luc Thériault — CEO, Pulp and Wood Products and president of Domtar Canada
• Flavio Volpe — president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association
• Darryl White — CEO of the Bank of Montreal
• Susan Yurkovich — president and CEO of Canfor

Do you have a story tip? Write to me at hnorth@postmedia.com

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