Trudeau government brushes aside Trump’s threats as it returns to NAFTA bargaining table

29 August, 2018 | Filed under: All News,more news,Opinion,RECENT POSTS,Somali news | Posted by:

After a “constructive” but general meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington on Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said they would start talking specifics on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON—Brushing off U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats once more, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government returned to the North American Free Trade Agreement bargaining table on Tuesday with only praise for the preliminary deal the U.S. and Mexico made without Canada.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Mexico’s “significant concessions” on automotive manufacturing and labour would benefit Canadian workers and smooth the path to a three-country agreement. Trudeau said he was “encouraged by the progress made by our NAFTA partners.”

“This was an important step to moving forward on renegotiating and improving NAFTA,” Trudeau told reporters in Montreal.

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They betrayed no hint of concern about Trump’s efforts to pressure Canada into its own concessions. But Freeland would not talk about the policy issues that loom as potential obstacles to Canada making a deal, from dairy supply management to tariff dispute resolution to the U.S. desire to attach an expiry date to any new accord.

Trump threatened on Monday to impose tariffs on Canadian-made cars and to finalize a deal with Mexico alone if Canada did not negotiate “fairly.” And his team started a ticking clock, promising to notify Congress of a trade agreement on Friday whether or not Canada was involved.

But the administration’s hardball tactics faced pushback from members of Trump’s own party, among others. Senior Republicans, the Republican-leaning U.S. business lobby and the Mexican government all said Tuesday that they strongly prefer an agreement that includes Canada. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an effort on Twitter to promote Canada’s inclusion, calling the day “#TrilateralTuesday.”

Both Republicans and Democrats also raised concerns about various substantive elements of the deal between the U.S. and Mexico, underscoring the difficulty of getting any eventual agreement through Congress. And some of the Republicans, along with independent trade experts, warned the Trump administration that it could face legal problems if it tried to proceed with a deal with Mexico alone after notifying Congress that it was negotiating a three-country accord.

“I hope we can get this done, and I hope Canada’s on board. Because that would eliminate some of the technical, procedural problems … that might otherwise arise,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican, the Washington Post reported.

Trudeau officials scrambled on Tuesday to learn what is actually in the agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. Trudeau wants his team to make a deal as quickly as possible, but it was not clear how much urgency he feels to sign on by Friday.

After a “constructive” but general meeting with her counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, on Tuesday afternoon, Freeland said they would start talking specifics on Wednesday.

Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s top advisers on trade, tried to minimize talk that the U.S. might move forward without Canada.

“We’re very close with them. There’s just a few hang-ups,” Navarro said.

There was skepticism among trade experts that a three-country deal could occur by Friday given the number and complexity of unresolved issues.

While Canada was widely expected to accept a deal between the U.S. and Mexico on auto manufacturing, since Canada’s interests were aligned with those of the U.S., there are several other issues where there is difficult Canada-U.S. bargaining ahead.

Among them: the “sunset clause” the U.S. wants to insert, which would have the agreement expire in 16 years if the three countries did not renew it; the U.S. demand for greater access to Canada’s highly protected dairy market; the U.S. demand to eliminate or significantly weaken the “Chapter 19” system for resolving certain tariff disputes outside domestic courts; and significant changes to intellectual property law and government procurement rules.

After months of Mexican haggling, “Canada’s supposed to snap in three days? It doesn’t work,” said Peter Clark, a Canadian trade lawyer.

The Mexican government has sent mixed signals on how committed it is to a three-country deal. Senior officials spoke more strongly in favour of Canada’s inclusion on Tuesday than they did Monday, with Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray telling a Mexican television network that they have a “clear” direction from President Enrique Pena Nieto to make a trilateral agreement.

It was not clear how much of a fight Congress would be willing to put up if Trump tried to sign with only Mexico. The Republicans who control both chambers have been largely unwilling to challenge the president.

Freeland flew in from Europe on Tuesday afternoon. Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts, and Canada-U.S. point man Brian Clow were also in Washington.

Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer faulted Trudeau for Canada’s absence from the bargaining table as the U.S. and Mexico made a deal. He said on Twitter: “Canadians will pay for Justin Trudeau’s weakness and failure on NAFTA. He has left Canada out in the cold and put thousands of jobs at risk.”

Trump injected further tension into the process when he said, again, that Mexico would pay, “very easily,” for his proposed border wall. Videgaray quickly responded on Twitter: “We just reached a trade understanding with the US, and the outlook for the relationship between our two countries is very positive. We will NEVER pay for a wall, however. That has been absolutely clear from the very beginning.”

Source:.thestar.com/news