Which trade agreements did prime minister marc garneau negotiate or sign while marc carney was pm of canada?
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Executive summary
Marc Garneau did not negotiate or sign any trade agreements while Mark Carney was prime minister because Garneau left federal politics in 2023, two years before Carney became prime minister in 2025 (Garneau retired in 2023) [1] [2]. Reporting shows Garneau’s trade-related activity occurred during earlier Liberal governments — notably his involvement in NAFTA/USMCA-era discussions as transport minister and a past role in implementing the Panama free trade agreement — but those actions predate the Carney premiership [3] [4] [5].
1. The chronological reality: Garneau retired before Carney took office
Public records and reporting make a plain chronological point: Marc Garneau announced his retirement from politics in 2023 and was no longer in cabinet after the 2021 shuffle, whereas Mark (Mark/Mark?) Carney became prime minister in 2025, meaning there is no temporal overlap in which Garneau could have negotiated or signed agreements while Carney was prime minister [1] [2] [6]. Any claim that Garneau acted as a minister under Prime Minister Carney is inconsistent with the documented timelines in these sources [1] [2].
2. What trade deals Garneau did engage with while in government (pre-Carney)
When Garneau held ministerial portfolios under Justin Trudeau’s government, he publicly addressed and promoted major trade dossiers: as transport minister he spoke about and promoted the renegotiated North American trade agreement (the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement/“new NAFTA”) and represented the government on Canada-U.S. trade matters during the renegotiations that followed the Trump-era talks [3] [4] [7]. Parliamentary records also record Garneau’s earlier role in implementing a free trade agreement with Panama — a treaty he signed in his capacity as an international trade minister in the past — which is cited in House of Commons proceedings [5].
3. Government ratifications while Garneau was in cabinet — attribution and limits
News analysis credits the Trudeau government with ratifying major agreements such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Europe and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans‑Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) during its first term, and contemporary reporting mentions those ratifications in the same breath as cabinet activity during Garneau’s time in government [8] [9]. The sources show these ratifications were government-level achievements occurring in the Trudeau era [8], but they do not explicitly document Garneau as the principal negotiator or signatory for CETA or CPTPP in the way they document his Panama FTA signing or his public role on NAFTA matters [5] [3]. Therefore, while Garneau was part of a government that ratified European and Pacific trade agreements [8] [9], the sources do not prove he personally negotiated or signed those specific treaties.
4. Why confusion may arise — names, roles, and political turnover
Confusion is understandable: Marc Garneau served in multiple cabinet posts (transport, foreign affairs, earlier trade responsibilities) during volatile years for Canadian trade policy, and Mark Carney’s premiership in 2025 brought a fresh round of trade initiatives and agreements that have nothing to do with Garneau’s service [1] [2] [10]. Some reporting conflates government-level ratifications with personal negotiation credits, and the turnover of ministers in Trudeau’s cabinet (Garneau being one of several foreign ministers over eight years) further muddies attribution for which minister “negotiated” versus which government apparatus completed ratification [2].
5. Bottom line and reporting limits
Based on the sources provided, the bottom line is unequivocal: Marc Garneau did not negotiate or sign trade agreements while Mark Carney was prime minister because Garneau had already left federal office by 2023 [1] [2]. The record does show Garneau personally signing the Panama free trade implementation measure while serving as international trade minister (parliamentary record cites the Panama FTA implementation) and actively promoting or defending NAFTA/USMCA-era outcomes as transport minister [5] [3] [4], and the Trudeau government ratified CETA and CPTPP while he was in cabinet though the sources stop short of assigning him sole negotiating credit for those ratifications [8] [9]. If more precise, minister‑by‑minister signing records or treaty-execution documents are needed, the provided reporting does not supply them and further primary-source confirmation would be required.