12:27 PM EST, 12/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 210 points at midday with most sectors higher.

The best performers are financials, and industrials, both up 0.9%.

Energy is the worst performer, down 0.8%.

U.S. trade officials are signalling that Canada will need to make policy changes if it wants long-term certainty under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), as the trade deal comes up for mandatory review next year, CTV News reported overnight Wednesday.

The report said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told members of U.S. Congress Thursday that, while the trade deal has delivered benefits for American exporters, Washington is not prepared to automatically extend it for another 16 years without addressing "specific and structural issues".

"(CUSMA) has been successful to a certain degree," he said, according to a document shared after Greer's closed-door meeting, adding the gains do not outweigh what he described as "structural shortcomings."

According to the report, the United States is calling on Canada to expand access to its dairy market and address concerns about exports of certain industry products. While Canada allows a limited amount of U.S. dairy to enter tariff-free under CUSMA, Greer told U.S. lawmakers that Canadian policies "unfairly restrict market access" for American products.

Greer also addressed Canada's Online Streaming Act and Online News Act, which bring both streaming and news platforms under Canadian cultural and broadcasting rules. "Canada insists on maintaining its Online Streaming Act, a law that discriminates against U.S. tech and media firms, as well as a number of other measures that restrict digital services trade," Greer said.

Other Canadian measures flagged by Greer include provincial bans on U.S. alcohol products, procurement rules in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, and what he describes as "complicated customs registration for Canadian recipients of U.S. exports." Greer also pointed to a dispute involving what he called, "Alberta's unfair treatment of electrical power distribution providers in Montana," saying it must be addressed as part of the CUSMA review.