Canada needs to be prepared for the risk the United States may announce its withdrawal from the trilateral USMCA trade deal as a negotiating tactic, according to a legal expert who is testifying on the agreement at public hearings in Washington this week.
Barry Appleton, a Toronto lawyer who is co-director of the Center for International Law at New York Law School, is speaking before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Wednesday as part of a scheduled review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“The mere suggestion of USMCA termination serves as an exceedingly potent, almost extortionary, bargaining chip,” Mr. Appleton said.
