Canada - NAFTA Deadline Looms As Trump Says: “We Don’t Like Their Representative Very Much”

Last week, as NAFTA talks between Canada and the US were about to resume, we reported on the possibility of friction during the meetings as Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, a staunch defender of Free Trade, had attended a symposium just before departing. During that congress, she chaired a round table together with two other women on the topic of ‘taking on the tyrant.’

Before the discussion started, US President Trump was shown as an example of a ‘tyrant’ comparable to Russia’s President Putin or Turkey’s Erdogan.

<a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/37497-NAFTA-White-House-Not-Amused-As-Canada-s-Freeland-Compared-Trump-To-Tyrant"> NAFTA - White House ‘Not Amused’ As Canada’s Freeland Compared Trump To ‘Tyrant’</a>.

Nine days have since passed, and the NAFTA negotiations are ‘stuck in neutral’ as it is called. With a White House self-imposed deadline possibly passing today, the reasons for this deal not going forward are many and varied.

<b>Quebec Elections</b>

First off, the White House wants to get the deal done by 30 September, exactly one day before PM Trudeau’s Liberal party has an important election to pass in Quebec, where it is being threatened by a populist party.

Mr Trudeau therefore has to position himself as being very tough against the White House administration of Mr Trump, stating: “The Americans are finding that the negotiations are tough because Canadians are tough,” Trudeau said on Thursday. “But a good, fair deal is still very possible. We won’t sign a bad deal for Canadians.”

<b>Trump Doesn’t Need A Deal </b>

The news earlier this week that the Canadian Prime Minister wanted a meeting with US President Trump at the UN but that the latter had told him he ‘had not time,’ came as a sign to many that this White House administration is well aware of the size of the US economy versus the Canadian one and will not be pushed into a deal it does not want.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">U.S. and Canada close to reaching NAFTA deal this weekend <a href="https://t.co/hjelFuTqVZ">https://t.co/hjelFuTqVZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/kfSKYCUjwN">pic.twitter.com/kfSKYCUjwN</a></p>&mdash; BNN Bloomberg (@BNNBloomberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNNBloomberg/status/1046164944172068864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Furthermore, Trumps rumoured dislike of Canada’s representative, Ms Chrystia Freeland, was confirmed when he told reporters on Wednesday that: “We’re very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada – we don’t like their representative very much.”

Trump also confirmed that he turned down a meeting with Justin Trudeau to discuss the prospects of a deal “because Trudeau’s tariffs are too high, and he doesn’t seem to want to move – and I told him: ‘Forget about it.’”

<b> Three Amigos</b>

Canada is offended that the so-called ‘Three Amigos’ deal between Mexico, the US, and Canada doesn’t seem to exist anymore as the US trade negotiator, Mr Robert Lighthizer, was able to sign a deal with Mexico without even mentioning the US’s northern neighbour.

Just last night, at a rally in West-Virginia, the US President referred to the deal again, saying that he had reached a deal with Mexico and will “see what happens with Canada.”

Also, the personal friction between Canada’s Ms Freeland and the US’s Mr Lighthizer is described as “chalk and cheese.”

Mr Lighthizer, a trade lawyer originally from the American rust belt, and Ms Freeland, a former globetrotting journalist with a keen interest in foreign policy and multilateralism who authored a books on tax proposals (Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else), don’t seem to understand each other all that well.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Canada Could Be Days Away From Losing NAFTA Deal <a href="https://t.co/aZbbJUOAJV">https://t.co/aZbbJUOAJV</a> <a href="https://t.co/wYSXV30PKU">pic.twitter.com/wYSXV30PKU</a></p>&mdash; The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1045925686148567040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 29, 2018</a></blockquote>

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In conclusion, it’s probably best to go with what Canada’s ambassador to the US, David MacNaughton, told a Toronto audience when asked what the chance of reaching a deal on Sunday was. He responded: “50/50”.

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Source:

https://globalnews.ca/video/4501064/reached-a-deal-to-replace-nafta-see-what-happens-with-canada-trump

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