In her resignation post, Hillman said she will “remain available” to Canada’s negotiating team as they navigate the months ahead. <\/p>\n
“While there will never be a perfect time to leave, this is the right time to put a team in place that will see the CUSMA review through to its conclusion,” she said.<\/p>\n
Hillman, a trade lawyer and career diplomat, was praised by both US and Canadian officials as news broke of her departure.<\/p>\n
“Ambassador Hillman is a class act,” said United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday. He added he does not believe her exit will impact Canada-US talks, but said “she’s a good actor”.<\/p>\n
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called her “a real patriot who has served Canadians proudly”, and credited her with resolving trade disputes and building up the economy.<\/p>\n
In an interview with CTV on Monday, Hillman said stepping down was her decision. “It’s time for me to start a new chapter,” she said.<\/p>\n
Mark Wiseman, a financier and a close friend of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, has been floated as her potential successor.<\/p>\n
Hillman’s tenure included navigating the Covid-19 pandemic and working alongside US and Chinese counterparts to secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians who were detained in China.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Hillman has been a central figure in trade negotiations between Canada and the US, after President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and dozens of other countries.<\/p>\n
The levies are part of a broader policy shift by Trump, who says they will increase the amount of tax raised by the government and boost investment in the US.<\/p>\n
Trade talks were halted in late October by Trump in anger over an anti-tariff advertisement commisioned by the province of Ontario and aired in the US. <\/p>\n
Trump has imposed sector-specific tariffs on Canadian metals, lumber and automotives. He has also imposed a sweeping tariff rate of 35% on all goods, though most have been exempt under the CUSMA – known at the USMCA in the US – trade pact.<\/p>\n
A scheduled review of CUSMA is now underway, starting with public hearings and stakeholder consultations, after which Canada, the US and Mexico could agree to renew it, or let it expire.<\/p>\n
Both Canada and Mexico have indicated that they would like the free trade agreement to remain in place, and US businesses shared a similar view at public hearings in December. <\/p>\n
But Trump has indicated he is open to letting it expire, “or we’ll maybe work out another deal with Mexico and Canada”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In her resignation post, Hillman said she will “remain available” to Canada’s negotiating team as they navigate the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-624448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115695959646028548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}