(Bloomberg) -- Canada and the US will disagree at the “fringe” but are likely to find common ground on free-trade negotiations in the coming years, according to Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Dave McKay.
“In 34 states — many of them red states, many blue states — Canada’s their number one trading partner. You look at the longstanding relationship. We’re going to have disagreements at the fringe the way we did last time,” McKay said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “At the core, I think we see the benefits to both nations, and therefore I think we have to keep that front and center.”
The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated during Donald Trump’s presidency, will come up for review by mid-2026, six years after the deal was signed.
“America will choose who they want to run their country at the end of the day,” McKay, who leads Canada’s biggest bank, said of the US election. “There’s some common policy issues.”
As for the broader US-Canada relationship, the McKay said Canada needs put a “business lens” on its economy and do better at supplying what its biggest trading partner needs.
“America needs Canada to produce more energy, but not only for America, but for its key trade partners as well globally,” he said, citing as a positive example the recently expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, which has started offering new oil supplies to Asia.
At home, McKay said, Canada needs to rein in spending and control fiscal deficits. He cited inflation and supply-chain issues as barriers to small businesses investing with confidence. McKay also has recently taken aim at Canada’s taxation policies, saying last month that the country is “on the wrong path” and needs a more competitive tax regime and closer relationship with the US.
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