White House gives Canada more time to rework NAFTA

The New York Times 05:48 - 01 September 2018

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration eased off its threat to exclude Canada from the North American Free Trade Agreement, extending talks that were set to end Friday while warning that the Canadians must be “willing” to accept the United States’ terms.

After four days of marathon negotiations between Canadian and U.S. officials failed to produce an agreement, the White House told Congress it would enter into a revised trade deal with Mexico and that it was up to Canada to decide whether to remain in the trilateral NAFTA pact.

“Today the president notified the Congress of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico — and Canada, if it is willing — 90 days from now,” Robert E. Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, said in a statement.

The White House agreement to keep talking has less to do with a change of heart than with political realities: Congress, which has ultimate authority over trade agreements, has warned the White House that any revised deal must include both Canada and Mexico. Canada is the major export destination for 36 states, and many of the president’s political supporters insisted that he first “do no harm” to the deal. Without Canada, Republican lawmakers would be likely to scuttle any new NAFTA pact, dealing President Donald Trump an embarrassing loss.

Yet the political necessity of keeping Canada in NAFTA did not stop Trump from poking Canada in the eye, accusing it Friday of taking “advantage” of the United States, continuing to threaten it with auto tariffs and appearing to enjoy it when disparaging comments he had made about Canada in private became public in the middle of tense negotiations.

Trump rattled the trade talks at the eleventh hour when The Toronto Star on Friday published off-the-record comments Trump had given during an interview with Bloomberg News. Trump, according to the report, said he had no plans to make concessions to Canada and that any agreement would be “totally on our terms.”

Whether Canada and the United States can reach a deal remains to be seen. Several big sticking points remain, and the president’s comments have only inflamed Canadians, who do not want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to give in to America’s demands.

The decision to move forward capped off a rocky negotiating session Friday, as the United States and Canada struggled to reach agreement on several contentious issues, including Canada’s barriers on dairy imports, its rules governing movies, books and other media, and a mechanism for settling trade disputes between the two countries, people briefed on the talks said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.