Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber says the league continues to look at shifting to a fall-to-spring season, saying he'd “rather get it right and take our time than get it wrong and do it quick.”
Garber spoke before Wednesday night's MLS All-Star game in Austin, Texas. He also spoke about the league’s Apple TV streaming deal and the sale of the Vancouver Whitecaps in his state of the league address before the game.
While he was peppered with questions about the calendar, looming large over the match between MLS and Liga MX All-Stars was the absence of Inter Miami star Lionel Messi.
Currently MLS plays a spring-to-late fall season. A shift to align the league with its international counterparts would make MLS teams more competitive in the player transfer market, while also freeing up players for national team duty during the summer, when many major global tournaments take place.
But there are obvious challenges, like weather.
“Making this change is seismic. It’s not something we should do lightly. We obviously have teams across multiple climate zones, multiple time zones, unlike any other league in the world, and if we do make the change, we’re not going to go back on that decision," Garber said.
The MLS Board of Governors announced in April that it was giving further consideration to the shift, but gave no timeline. Garber suggested there would be an announcement by the end of the year.
Garber declined to say whether Messi or Inter Miami teammate Jordi Alba would face suspension for missing the All-Star game, as league rules have dictated in the past. Miami's next match is Saturday against FC Cincinnati in Fort Lauderdale.
The Whitecaps announced in December that the team was for sale. Greg Kerfoot has been owner of the club since 2002, when it was part of the North American Soccer League. Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and former NBA star Steve Nash joined Kerfoot in 2008, and the Whitecaps became part of MLS in 2011.
Garber said there are no plans to move the club, although the Whitecaps need a new stadium. Currently, Vancouver plays at the multi-purpose BC Place, which is also the home of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League.
As for the league's streaming deal with Apple, Garber said MLS is working with the company to provide fans greater access. Distribution through cable and satellite services this season has helped.
Metrics for viewership have been hard to come by because there's no system to determine exactly how people are “viewing and consuming” games via a subscription service, Garber said. But he revealed that there have been 120,000 unique viewers per match and vowed greater transparency going forward.
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Don Garber, Major League Soccer commissioner, gestures as he arrives for the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.
“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”
Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.
“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”
He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.
Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”
A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.
“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”
Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.
China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.
Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.
Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaks to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, leaves after speaking to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, centre, reacts during a meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (not in the picture), at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaks to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
