Canada Rejects U.S. Push To Replace NAFTA With Bilateral Trade Deal

Canada, the host nation, issued a statement decrying the USA action as harmful to trust in free trade and the global economy, pitting the six nations against Trump’s America.

According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a “national security” issue.

In addition, Trump imposed the steel tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union because he believes he has to support the us steel industry because it’s so important to the nation at large, Conway said.

A Canadian government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic relations, said there have always been one-on-one talks as part of the NAFTA negotiations but noted that the trade pact is a three-country agreement and that any resolution would require all three countries to sign on together. The US Commerce Department says that constitutes a threat to US national security. In March, audio leaked of Trump bragging during a fundraising dinner about bluffing to Trudeau on trade. He says there is considerable concern along New York’s northern border.

The high cost of operation, coupled with increased energy costs forced all but 5 of the 18 US-based aluminum smelters to close since 2007, making the USA highly reliant on Canadian aluminum, something Trump hopes to rectify by re-opening shuttered production plants. The member countries are: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United States and the Britain.

“We need trade and one of the things we’re concerned about is long-term implications that these trade issues will have on our partnerships with Mexico and Canada and other markets”, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, a Republican, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

“The addition of new retaliatory tariffs on everything from bourbon, to rice, to orange juice and cranberries will only widen the pain to additional farmers across the country”, Kuehl said.

Two-way trade is worth United States $600 billion annually but the USA has a deficit with Mexico of around US $65 billion, which Trump has argued is evidence of unfair trade between the two countries.

Conway, speaking at a reporters breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, stressed that the Canadian tariffs are part of a broader Trump administration policy to get tough on America’s trading partners. Looking from the hotel across the broad expanse of the St. Lawrence River, it is hard not to reflect on the shared American-Canadian experience in settling a vast continent over more than four centuries. A Canadian general was in command of NORAD at the time of 9/11 and helped manage our response through all of that during those crucial days. “The US needs Canadian product there”.

But Wright added: “There is a feeling, I think, over the last few months, that that approach has not borne fruit, and that they haven’t really gotten anything for that friendly approach”. They are our friend.

In its initial reaction to the new US tariffs on May 31, Mexico had said it would keep its retaliatory levies in place till the USA government rolled back its decision. “Right now, they are getting chaos and protectionism”.

Trump was already going to be facing criticisms at the summit, but this may take it to another level.

Generally upbeat about the talks to this point, Trudeau pulled back the curtain and expressed frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of the negotiations. The US has a massive trade deficit with China.