Nieto agreed in a phone call with Trudeau on Sunday to join forces to encourage economic integration in North America, according to a statement from Peno Nieto’s office.<\/p>\n
David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, who is in Calgary to brief ministers, told reporters Sunday that preliminary discussions with the Trump transition team have been positive, and Canada is not “at all” the target of Trump’s trade rhetoric.<\/p>\n
“They’re principally focused on countries that have large trade deficits with them [Mexico and China] … they haven’t said anything specific about real problems they have with us … but, I mean, we are part of NAFTA so there are discussions that need to be had,” he said, adding there is a “worry” that Canada could be “collateral damage” of the administration’s push to rethink the country’s trade deals.<\/p>\n
He said it was clear from early meetings with Trump’s team that not all of them appreciated the “depth and breadth” of the economic, security and cultural relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n
![\"David](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/6ef43_david-macnaughton.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton said Sunday Canada is not the target of Trump’s trade talks. (Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
“Some of the rhetoric around protectionism is worrisome,” he said, but added Canada has “a lot of leverage” because so many states sell goods and services to Canada.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, there is a way to create a “win-win” for both the president and for Canada, the ambassador said. “It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game.”<\/p>\n
The White House website, updated since Trump’s inauguration Friday<\/a>, says\u00a0that if Canada and Mexico refuse to accept a renegotiation of NAFTA\u00a0that provides a “fair deal” for U.S.\u00a0workers, then the U.S. will move to withdraw from it entirely.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the prime minister said a date has not yet been set for a meeting between Trump and Trudeau.<\/p>\n Traditionally, the first foreign trip by a U.S.\u00a0president is to Canada as it was for former president Barack Obama\u00a0who visited Ottawa in early February 2009.<\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he’d soon meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to renegotiate NAFTA. (Henry Romero\/Reuters)<\/p>\n One of the top billings at the cabinet retreat this week will be a meeting with Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO\u00a0of the Blackstone Group, a top U.S. hedge fund and investment group, who was appointed in December to head Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum.<\/p>\n The group, a team of economic advisors who will help the president implement his ambitious agenda “to bring jobs back to America,” includes some of the biggest names from\u00a0Wall Street and Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n Schwarzman will counsel cabinet on Trump’s thinking\u00a0and how his promised plan to recast trade deals “could play out,” a Trudeau spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The cabinet will reiterate to Schwarzman\u00a0a message that has become familiar in Ottawa since Trump’s election, namely that the economic relationship between the countries is too important to imperil as 35 U.S. states call\u00a0Canada their top export destination, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n First on the agenda Sunday evening is a previously unannounced meeting between\u00a0cabinet and\u00a0members of the defence and intelligence communities.<\/p>\n Jonathan Vance, Canada’s\u00a0Chief of the Defence Staff, Michel\u00a0Coulombe, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and\u00a0Greta\u00a0Bossenmaier, the country’s top digital spy at the Communications Security Establishment, flew in to Calgary Sunday afternoon to provide briefings on “a range of issues that relate to their files,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The meeting, billed as a sort of “fireside chat,” comes at at time when relations between Trump and those in the U.S. intelligence community are strained. Trump has criticized\u00a0leaks about an unconfirmed Russian report<\/a>, while comparing the actions of some agents\u00a0to “Nazi Germany.”<\/p>\n The newly-minted president also earned a strong rebuke this weekend from John Brennan, Obama’s\u00a0outgoing CIA director,\u00a0who said the billionaire businessman “should be ashamed of himself” for standing in front of a memorial for fallen agents<\/a>\u00a0while scolding the media<\/a> for reports about the size of his inaugural crowds.<\/p>\n Before his arrival in Calgary, Trudeau took to Twitter to send a message of support to the tens of thousands of protesters who turned out in cities across the country\u00a0Saturday<\/a>\u00a0to assert women’s rights in an era of uncertainty with the election of a right-leaning and populist president who is seen by some as a threat to the advances women have made in recent years.<\/p>\n\n Congratulations to the women and men across Canada who came out yesterday to support women’s rights. You keep your government inspired.<\/p>\n \u2014 The marches were billed by organizers as a progressive response to Trump’s inauguration \u2014\u00a0a chance to show the president that, despite his victory, there is a formidable alternative.<\/p>\n It is not clear what impact, if any, Trudeau’s tweet will have on his relationship with Trump. The 45th president\u00a0and his team are known to actively monitor\u00a0the social media site.<\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/trudeau-cabinet-calgary-trump-1.3947545?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet colleagues have arrived in Calgary for a three-day retreat to ready themselves for the\u00a0realities of governing in the Donald Trump era, and to hear from experts who they’ve tapped to help guide them through a potentially tumultuous time with the new president. “Discussions throughout the retreat will span […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-64225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"USA-ELECTION\/\"](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/6ef43_usa-election.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTop Trump lieutenant in Calgary<\/h2>\n
Cabinet meets with intelligence community<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Women’s March<\/h2>\n
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\n @JustinTrudeau<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n