Amid trade tensions, US, North American leaders take to the stage

It was all smiles at Washington DC’s Kennedy Centre as the leaders of the US, Mexico and Canada took the stage for the 2026 World Cup draw, even as trade tensions simmered in the background.

For Donald Trump, the brief interaction marked his first meeting with Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, who leads the largest trading partner for the US.

While Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has already met with Trump several times, trade talks have been halted.

Trump this week signalled that the US is still weighing whether it will leave in place a single long-standing free trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico or look at separate bilateral deals.

The agreement – known as the USMCA – is up for a mandatory review next year. Carney has credited it with shielding Canadian businesses from the bulk of US-imposed tariffs on Canada.

Those underlying tensions seemed distant on Friday, when the leaders took the stage together to select the balls of their own countries from bowls, marking the beginning of a process to select groups for the initial stage of the jointly-hosted tournament.

The leaders’ body language appeared cordial and warm. Collectively, they posed for a selfie with Fifa President Gianni Infantino on stage.

Reporters later saw Trump sitting with Sheinbaum, who had said earlier in the week that she planned to have a brief one-on-one with Trump to discuss trade matters, including steel, aluminium and automobile tariffs, on the sidelines of the event.

The Trump administration has largely backed away from threats to impose steep tariffs as negotiations continue.

Carney was sitting beside Sheinbaum. Both have expressed an interest in securing the future of the USMCA, which has been in place in some form since 1994.

Its fate is uncertain pending the outcome of the mandatory review due to be completed in the summer of 2026.

Trump also met for a brief 45 minutes with Sheinbaum and Carney on Friday.

In a statement, Sheinbaum said they talked about the World Cup and separately “agreed to continue working together on trade issues with our teams”.

Carney’s office said the three agreed to keep working together on the USMCA.

Trump told reporters in the White House on Wednesday that the US will “either let it expire, or we’ll maybe work out another deal with Mexico and Canada”.

He added that he believed both Canada and Mexico had “taken advantage” of the US.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told news outlet Politico on Thursday that Trump is considering dividing the agreement into two parts.

“Our relationship with the Canadian economy is totally different than our relationship with the Mexican economy,” Greer said, adding: “It actually doesn’t make a ton of economic sense why we would marry those three together.”

The current USMCA deal was signed by Trump during his first term. At the time, he praised it as “the best agreement we’ve ever made”.

American businesses have so far signalled that they want the trade agreement to remain in place.

At a three-day public hearing about the coming review of the agreement in Washington this week, speakers from agriculture, business and policy groups said it has allowed them to access Canadian and Mexican markets.

The World Cup draw also saw President Trump receive the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize, which Infantino said was “in recognition of his exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world”.

In brief remarks, Trump said that award was “one of the honours” of his life.