International Trade committee  I think one of the potential goals for the joint review, in order to focus on a coordinated, forward-looking agenda, is not necessarily saying to the U.S. that these bilateral irritants shouldn't be resolved politically; it is to try to push them into channels other than the joint review so that they don't crowd out the joint review and risk overwhelming the joint review, leading to potential risk that there is no successful agreement in 2026.

International Trade committee  I agree with that observation by Steve. I think, where possible, doing this multilaterally through the OECD is clearly the best outcome. I think that there are a couple of concerns with digital DSTs from a U.S. perspective. One is that there have been various DST proposals, not just in Canada but in other countries, so part of the concern that the U.S. has with the DST in Canada, I think, is its precedential implications.

International Trade committee  I think that everything's on the table, potentially. My view is that whoever's in the White House next year will have a list of bilateral trade arrangements with Canada that we may try to resolve in some shape or form before the joint review, but they will certainly be carried into the review if they're not resolved.

International Trade committee  Thank you. It's my pleasure to be here today before the House of Commons standing committee to testify on CUSMA and the joint review in 2026. I'm a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where I lead the USMCA initiative. This initiative was established shortly after the overwhelming bipartisan support for the agreement in Congress, where we saw an opportunity in this vote and its support by key U.S. labour unions to reset the conversation around North American economic integration.