Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that senators will not vote to approve a revised North American trade pact in 2018, leaving the issue to the next Congress, Reuters reports.
Said McConnell: “That will be a next year issue because the process we have to go through doesn’t allow that to come up before the end of this year.”
“President Trump hailed a revised North American Free Trade Agreement as a victory for the United States, Canada and Mexico on Monday, saying his get-tough approach to trade, including his use of tariffs, was bringing results,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump portrayed the new agreement as the fulfillment of a campaign promise to terminate NAFTA, saying he had made good on his plan to rip up ‘the worst trade deal ever made’ and help American businesses and workers.”
Playbook: “This is exceedingly unlikely to be ratified this Congress. That’s what every senior Republican and Democratic aide on Capitol Hill says. It’s going to require a massive whip effort, and the House is out until after the election. If Republicans lose the House, there will be an effort to jam this through in the lame-duck. That will be really tough.”
“The United States and Canada reached a last-minute deal to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement on Sunday, overcoming deep divisions to keep the 25-year-old trilateral pact intact,” the New York Times reports.
“The deal came after a weekend of frantic talks to try and preserve a trade agreement that has stitched together the economies of Mexico, Canada and the United States but that was on the verge of collapsing. After more than a year of tense talks and strained relations between President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, negotiators from both sides came to a resolution just ahead of a midnight deadline set by the White House.”
“The 11th-hour agreement was punctuated by a frenetic Sunday, with Canada’s leaders teleconferencing throughout the day with top American officials in Washington.”
Bloomberg: “Some people familiar with the talks credited Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner for helping smooth the path toward a deal.”
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked the phones, officials gathered at his office and Canadian stakeholders were called to Ottawa as negotiators came within striking distance of reaching a three-country NAFTA deal on Sunday,” Politico reports.
“These late-stage negotiations are taking place primarily by phone. A public announcement of any new deal would occur late Sunday night, or possibly Monday.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said negotiators facing a self-imposed Sept. 30 deadline are “sort of running out of time” to include Canada in a new North American trade deal, the Washington Post reports.
If the remaining gaps cannot be bridged in the next few days, the administration will request congressional approval of a deal with Mexico only, he said.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman told CNBC that President Trump risks seriously damaging the relationship between Canada and the U.S. as he pushes toward a new North American Free Trade Agreement.
Said Helman: “The definition of insanity, just listening to the president there, is how the president has been treating Canada all this time. You know, this is our best trading partner in the world.”
President Trump threatened to push Canada out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if he doesn’t get the concessions he wants.
Said Trump: “There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere with these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely and we will be far better off.”
However, ABC News notes “it’s not clear whether the Trump administration has the authority to strike a deal with just Mexico, as it announced Monday, and exclude Canada.”
President Trump admitted that he made “off the record” comments to reporters saying he would not offer Canada any concessions in NAFTA negotiations.
Said Trump: “Wow, I made off the record comments to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was blatantly violated. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand!”
Axios reports that talks with Canada broke off but will resume next week.
“High-stakes trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. were dramatically upended on Friday morning by inflammatory secret remarks from President Trump,” after the remarks were obtained by the Toronto Star.
In remarks Trump wanted to be “off the record,” Trump told Bloomberg News reporters yesterday that he is not making any compromises at all in the talks with Canada — but that he cannot say this publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”
Said Trump: “Here’s the problem. If I say no — the answer’s no. If I say no, then you’re going to put that, and it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal…I can’t kill these people.”
In another remark he did not want published, Trump said that the possible deal with Canada would be “totally on our terms.”
Axios: “The White House has not denied the report.”
U.S. trade negotiators told Canada that a new NAFTA deal has to be signed by this Friday, Bloomberg reports.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has arrived in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to smooth over the problems between her country and the Trump administration.
A new Campaign Research poll in Canada finds that 81% of Canadians said they “disapproved” of the job President Trump is doing, while 11% approved and eight per cent didn’t know.
The poll also found 72% believe Trump’s protectionist policies have “harmed” the Canadian economy, while only 3% said they have “helped.”
“Top Canadian officials, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, rushed to express support for Ambassador Kelly Craft after a package containing a suspicious substance and a death threat was mailed to the U.S. diplomat,” Bloomberg reports.
“White powder was found Thursday in a package addressed to Craft at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa and discovered by a mailroom employee at the ambassador’s residence… An expletive-filled letter containing death threats against Craft, Trump, and members of Trump’s family was also enclosed.”
President Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “learned” from the mistake of criticizing him and it’s going to cost Canada “a lot of money,” the Globe and Mail reports.
“He said the Canadian leader must not have realized that Trump had televisions on Air Force One, allowing him to monitor Trudeau’s news conference at the end of the G7 summit.“
New York Times: “It takes a lot to rile people in this decidedly courteous nation. But after President Trump’s parting shots against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the day he left the Group of 7 summit meeting in Quebec, the country reacted with uncharacteristic outrage and defiance at a best friend’s nastiness.”
”Canadians across the political spectrum said that while the world had grown used to Mr. Trump’s social media rants, the ferocity and personal tone of the insults against Mr. Trudeau had crossed a line. Some even asked whether Canadians should boycott United States products and stop travel south of the border.”
“President Trump upended two days of global economic diplomacy late Saturday, refusing to sign a joint statement with America’s allies, threatening to escalate his trade war on the country’s neighbors and deriding Canada’s prime minister as ‘very dishonest and weak,’” the New York Times reports.
“In a remarkable pair of acrimony-laced tweets from aboard Air Force One as he flew away from the Group of 7 summit toward a meeting with North Korea’s leader, Mr. Trump lashed out at Justin Trudeau. He accused the prime minister, who hosted the seven-nation gathering, of making false statements.”
Bloomberg: “His comments undermine the G-7, a bloc that was once a pillar of U.S. foreign policy and has long acted as a defender of the global economic system. It could also cause fresh friction with his northern neighbor as tensions percolate over efforts to redraw the North American Free Trade Agreement.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “sharply criticized President Trump’s tariffs and promised Canada would answer with its own on July 1 unless the United States reversed course,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trudeau: “I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry. Particularly, they did not take lightly that it’s for a national security reason that for Canadians … who stood shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in far off lands in conflicts from the first World War onwards, it’s kind of insulting.”
He added: “Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.”
President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference,” CNN reports.
“Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a ‘national security’ issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, ‘Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?’ referring to the War of 1812.”
“The problem with Trump’s comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony.”
“President Trump boasted in a fundraising speech Wednesday that he made up information in a meeting with the leader of a top U.S. ally, saying he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbor to the north without knowing whether that was the case,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please. Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.”
He added: “… So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know… I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid… And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check, because I can’t believe it.’”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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