Trudeau, not Trump, deserves our NAFTA ire

[Anonymous]

The Free Trade deal with the United States is in jeopardy. As western Canadians we are at economic risk. Yet for some reason our media spend all their time talking about Donald Trump.



Trump is not the problem. He is the President of the United States looking after their interests and we should expect our government to look after ours, not get into a shouting war of words with Trump.



When Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland bails midway through a three-country visit to Europe to suddenly fly to Washington, you know things are not exactly under control on our end.



And when the former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Trudeau tweets – as Roland Paris did — that Mexico needs to remember Canada promised not to throw them under the bus in NAFTA when they were the ones under "attack" from Trump, it is an indication that we are expecting others to look after our interests; and that can only mean we have done an insufficient job of doing it ourselves.



We cannot depend on others to look after our interests. We need to look after our own as both Mexico and the U.S, are, and Canada apparently isn't.



This is a political problem, not an economic one.



We had negotiated an agreement after the G7 meeting regarding the sunset clause. Drinks were poured and toasts were offered. This according to Rob Russo, The CBC Bureau Chief, who reported it on CBC and in the press.



When it all came unglued, CBC concentrated on Trump's tweets and blamed him for axing the agreement. But it was Trudeau who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his ill-timed remarks on tariff retaliation, to make himself look tough (similarly, in accepting an award in Washington as Diplomat of the Year, Foreign Minister Freeland's entire speech consisted of thinly veiled insults of the U.S. president).



Anxious to increase his popularity in Canada, Trudeau proceeded to criticize Trump at his press conference after Trump was safely in the air heading to North Korea. He was willing to sacrifice Canada's economic health for a short-term gain in the polls.



This is our prime minister, so wanting to be liked that he disregarded Canadian jobs and well-being in an effort to burnish his own image and satisfy his ego.



This man needs to be defeated.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/tkachuk-trudeau-not-trump-deserves-our-nafta-ire">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnis ... -nafta-ire">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/tkachuk-trudeau-not-trump-deserves-our-nafta-ire



And I will do my part to make sure Trudeau is a one term pm.

[Anonymous]

Canada's NAFTA talks need adult supervision.





It's been clear from the beginning that U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weren't besties.



Trump set the tone at the outset by failing to visit Canada as his first foreign trip, as is tradition for a newly inaugurated president.



Finally, when Trump partially attended the G7 meeting in Quebec last June, he first described the meeting a "10" out of "10" emphasizing the "close" relationship with allies, among them, Justin Trudeau.



Until that is, the door to Air Force One closed and the vicious tweeting began: "PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, 'US Tariffs were kind of insulting' and he 'will not be pushed around," Trump thundered.



@realDonaldTrump

 PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, "US Tariffs were kind of insulting" and he "will not be pushed around." Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!



Trudeau has always tried to play kissy with Trump to his face all the while pushing his sacrosanct holier-than-thou persona and his dogmatic ideas. He thinks he can charm his way into the narcissistic president goodwill by giving him pictures of him or schmoozing his daughter.



Remember the time Trudeau gifted a framed picture of Trump at an event honouring Justin's father, Pierre? Or the time he brought Trump's daughter Ivanka as his date to a Broadway show celebrating generosity toward foreigners in need. Trump, of course, laps it all up, but as his comments at the closing of the G7 show, he has nothing, but contempt for Trudeau.



Many things have irked the thin-skinned, explosive Trump during NAFTA talks. But at least two appeared to have rankled him the most. They are elements our federal government appear to have put off limits and have contributed to making these negotiations a hot mess.



First, Team Canada has insisted on broadening NAFTA to include sections on gender issues, climate change and indigenous rights. How do you think Trump would react given his misogynous reputation, the gutting of his own Environmental Protection Agency and his racist immigration stance? In any event, let's remember that this is a business deal, not a social contract with the U.S.



Second, Trudeau steadfast refusal to deal with what outcast Conservative MP Maxime Bernier calls the "milk cartel" where the price of dairy, among other things, is subject to a tariff as high as 300%. If ever there was a sacred cow, it's this one. And in these negotiations it has served as our poisoned chalice.



And, in response, Trump is planning massive tariffs on Canadian car exports that could cripple our manufacturing sector. As pointed out by Postmedia's John Ivison: "The very idea that any Canadian government is risking a 25% tariff on autos, an industry that employs 140,000 people, to protect 16,000 dairy farmers is not only idiotic, it's irresponsible."



A fuming Mad Max tweeted last week: "Now, @cafreeland and @JustinTrudeau, stop fooling around and playing politics. Put supply management on the table, end the retaliatory measures, accept Trump's offer to aim at reducing all tariffs and barriers, and NEGOTIATE SERIOUSLY. More grandstanding will bring no result." He may have a point.



 

Capping the week on Friday, in a bombshell revelation by the Toronto Star, reporter Daniel Dale obtained "secret" remarks by Trump to Bloomberg that were supposed to have been made off the record that "(He) is not making compromises at all with Canada... (and that) a possible deal "would be totally on our terms." Not necessarily negotiating seriously in the other corner either. Where's the grown-up in the room?



The NAFTA roller-coaster had its ups and downs all day Friday. Late in the day, the Trump administration told Congress it intends to revise NAFTA and continue working with Canada on a trade deal. A continuing obstacle is Canada's lack of concession on dairy products. There are many opportunities for all this to fall on off the tracks again unless we agree to put a little water in our wine.



Failing to do so would risk devastating our manufacturing sector.



Let's be the grown-up in the room.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/marin-nafta-talks-need-adult-supervision">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnis ... upervision">https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/marin-nafta-talks-need-adult-supervision



It's unconscionable that our totally out of touch pm would risk tens of thousands of industrial jobs for virture signalling and the ire of a small, but powerful dairy cartel.

[Anonymous]

I know the NAFTA negotiations have been a big part of the news lately, but I haven't been following much of it..



The federal court of appeal cancelling the Transmountain expansion has taken up all my national news time.

[JOE]

I'm starting to think Canada should join the EU as an associate member like Norway or Swizerland.



So the next time the USA, Trump  or someone like hom rattles our Cage, we can tell them to buzz off.



Anyways I thank ex Conservative PM Stephen Harper for setting up CETA.



That was a wise farsighted move for which the liberal leaning media has never given him credit.

[Anonymous]

I'm starting to think Canada should join the EU as an associate member like Norway or Swizerland.



So the next time the USA, Trump  or someone like hom rattles our Cage, we can tell them to buzz off.



Anyways I thank ex Conservative PM Stephen Harper for setting up CETA.



That was a wise farsighted move for which the liberal leaning media has never given him credit.

Trudeau would still be virtue signalling and not standing up for Canadians against the dairy cartel inn Quebec.



Read the op Joe. The problem is Trudeau, not trade.

[Anonymous]

The best trade deal Canada could make is to trade Trudeau. But, what country would take him.

[Bricktop]

Venezuela?

[Anonymous]

Venezuela?

Why not, he is following the Venezuelan economic model.