The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement "irrelevant" ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to China. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe says that Dominic LeBlanc will meet U.S. counterparts in mid-January to start formal USMCA talks. The USMCA continues to shield most Canadian exports from the punitive tariffs imposed by Mr. Trump last year. But he has imposed some tariffs that apply regardless of USMCA, including levies on the non-U.S. content in cars assembled in Canada and Mexico. He has repeatedly said the U.S. does not need Canadian-built vehicles at all. Major carmakers, whose supply chains grew to encompass all three countries over the course of decades of continental free trade under the USMCA and its predecessor, the North American free-trade agreement, have called for the USMCA to be extended. The uncertainty Mr. Trump's trade agenda has created for Canada's auto industry is likely to weigh on Mr. Carney as he arrives in China on Wednesday. Mr. Carney is expected to discuss Canada's 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, which resulted in countertariffs on Canadian agricultural exports.