“We will do that if and when negotiations begin,” she said, emphasizing again Wednesday, as she did in the House of Commons last week, that no formal talks have begun, despite reports that Mexico was\u00a0beginning a 90-day consultation period\u00a0with its stakeholders\u00a0leading up to a presumed start of negotiations later this spring.<\/p>\n
Freeland\u00a0was in Washington for her\u00a0second day\u00a0of talks with senior congressional leaders, culminating in a meeting with her newly sworn in U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
Tillerson, she said, has a “very deep understanding of our economic relationship,”\u00a0something she said was an advantage for Canada.<\/p>\n
Freeland\u00a0told reporters several times that no formal NAFTA talks\u00a0can begin at the moment because the counterparts Canada would deal with, Trump’s nominee for\u00a0commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, and the nominee for U.S. trade representative,\u00a0Robert\u00a0Lighthizer, have yet to be confirmed by Congress and sworn in to assume their duties.<\/p>\n
Leaked NAFTA\u00a0briefings ‘quite different’ from political position\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Freeland\u00a0was asked\u00a0about recent leaked NAFTA briefing documents<\/a>\u00a0that purported to outline the U.S. priorities for a NAFTA renegotiation. She\u00a0dismissed\u00a0their value and relevancy to the eventual talks.<\/p>\n “It is important for Canadians to understand that those were the briefings provided by officials. And as someone who has been briefed by officials, I know the value of briefing notes, but I also know that briefing notes are quite different from a political position taken by a government,” she said.<\/p>\n “It’s\u00a0premature to be having specific technical conversations with the U.S.A.,” she said.<\/p>\n It’s routine for Canada to update and modernize its trade agreements, she said, noting that NAFTA by her count has had 11 significant updates.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met his counterpart Freeland at the State Department Wednesday morning. They were mum about NAFTA talks during their photo call, with Freeland telling reporters later any substantive discussion would be premature. (Andrew Harnik\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n But as for Canada’s position in those talks,\u00a0what would it want to renegotiate, exactly?<\/p>\n “You are all Canadian,” she told reporters on the call. “I hope you won’t expect me to compromise a negotiating position by today, at such an early moment, putting all my cards on the table.”<\/p>\n Freeland\u00a0described her meetings with representatives from the automotive industry last Friday, and the lumber industry Monday<\/a>, as valuable for understanding the position of different sectors of the economy likely to be part of the talks.<\/p>\n “Rest assured that we will very forcefully advocate for the national interest,” she said.<\/p>\n Freeland\u00a0also downplayed a threat to Canada’s dairy sector some read into House Speaker Paul Ryan’s account of his meeting with Freeland yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n The American readout of the meeting said the pair discussed “dairy market access.” The Canadian account did not mention this issue.<\/p>\n “As I would expect from a representative from Wisconsin, Speaker Ryan did indeed raise the issue of dairy,” Freeland confirmed.<\/p>\n “As I always do, I forcefully defended our national interest and I forcefully defended that sector.”<\/p>\n Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to DFC that Minister Freeland defended the Cdn dairy industry – there is no joint statement. https:\/\/t.co\/AsYlUrunWZ<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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<\/p>\nDairy threat dismissed<\/h2>\n
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