Trump to give NAFTA talks a ‘good, strong shot’ after Trudeau warns of withdrawal risks
One day after his White House floated a trial balloon about issuing an executive order to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump now says he’s fully committed to reworking the deal.
At an event in the Oval Office on Thursday morning, Trump explained his decision not to proceed with an executive order to withdraw by saying ending NAFTA would be “a pretty big, you know, shock to the system.”
“Now, if I’m unable to make a fair deal, if I’m unable to make a fair deal for the United States, meaning a fair deal for our workers and our companies, I will terminate NAFTA. But we’re going to give renegotiation a good, strong shot,” he said.
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The media reports about the withdrawal order appeared Wednesday morning. By the end of the day, Trump had phone calls with both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
At a farm event in Gray, Sask., on Thursday morning, Trudeau said “yes, he [Trump] was very much thinking about cancelling.”
“I highlighted that quite frankly, that whether or not there was a better deal to come, there were an awful lot of jobs, an awful lot of industries right now that have been developed under the NAFTA context. And disruption like cancelling NAFTA, even if theoretically eventually might lead to better outcomes, would cause a lot of short- and medium-term pain for a lot of families,” Trudeau said, pointing out how both leaders were elected on platforms of helping, not hurting.
Trudeau says he convinced Trump not to cancel NAFTA1:37
To do otherwise might make Canada and Mexico wonder if there was any point to negotiations at all.
It would make future negotiations very difficult, a Canadian official told CBC News.
Trial balloon popped
Unnamed White House aides had, according to U.S. reports, drafted an executive order for Trump to sign that would have signalled the U.S. intention to withdraw from NAFTA. The reports said, however, that Trump had not decided yet what to do.
While attacking NAFTA’s perceived failures is a familiar and well-used tune in the Trump administration’s hymn book, the threat to withdraw was usually mentioned as something Trump would do if renegotiations weren’t satisfactory.
Suddenly, perhaps as a negotiating tactic, came headlines suggesting a withdrawal order could precede negotiations, rather than result from their failure.
Trudeau, right, was greeted warmly by Trump at the White House in February. This week, the two leaders spoke twice by telephone as trade issues threatened to cloud the Canada-U.S. relationship. (Carlos Barria/Canadian Press)
The call with Canada came first, very late in the afternoon. Canada knew that Trump was also going to speak with the Mexican leader later that evening.
Trudeau’s call was characterized by another as partly an effort to ask for clarification following the news reports, and partly an attempt to help Trump help himself by reiterating messages shared with the Americans before about the mutually assured economic destruction that would result from rash or politically motivated decision-making.
By late Wednesday evening, a White House statement said conversations with both Trudeau and Mexico’s president were “pleasant and productive,” and the three countries would proceed swiftly towards the renegotiation they had all previously agreed to, according to their internal procedures.
Trump said it was his “privilege” to bring NAFTA up to date and an “honour” to deal with the other two leaders.
The wording of his Thursday morning statements on Twitter, however, were phrased in a way that made it seem like the other two leaders had come to him with a request not to terminate, which he consented to. Far from being on the verge of a trade war, “relationships are good,” he wrote, “deal very possible!”
…subject to the fact that if we do not reach a fair deal for all, we will then terminate NAFTA. Relationships are good-deal very possible!
I received calls from the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada asking to renegotiate NAFTA rather than terminate. I agreed..
An official said they’re getting used to Trump’s posturing before he does, or doesn’t do, certain things, and that in the aftermath of an otherwise successful phone call, the U.S. president is free to portray events as he will.
Trudeau told reporters Thursday that he was always going to defend Canada’s interests without confrontation, but in a “firm but responsible and polite way.”
Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-trudeau-nafta-renegotiation-1.4088545?cmp=rss