NAFTA NEMESIS

TRUMP TEAM SETS TIMETABLE FOR POSSIBLE EXIT FROM NORTH AMERICAN TRADE DEAL,

OTTAWA • If Donald Trump gets his way, as he often does, NAFTA as we now know it could be declared dead on Jan. 20 — the first day of his presidency. Or maybe not. Of course, it could also be renegotiated.

With just 65 days to go before his swearing ceremony, Trump appears to be keeping his options open on one of the biggest issues he will face during his presidency.

According to a memo prepared by his transition team — and obtained by CNN — his advisers are studying how the 1994 free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico might also be rewritten under terms more agreeable to Trump and his voter base.

For Canada, everything from the decades-long softwood lumber dispute and ongoing friction over “country-of-origin labelling” to environmental and safety standards will be up for review, according to the memo.

Trump also wants to pull out of the 12-nation TransPacific Partnership, which still needs to be ratified by all members. Canada and the United States have yet to do so. “The Trump trade plan breaks with the globalist wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties,” says the memo.

The incoming Republican administration, the memo goes on to say, “will reverse decades of conciliatory trade policy. New trade agreements will be negotiated that provide for the interests of U.S. workers and companies first.”

The Trump transition team is also targeting “unfair trade practices” and they want measures to “retain and return manufacturing jobs” to the U.S., the memo says.

By Day 200 of his term, or around Aug. 8, Trump would need to decide whether to formally break with NAFTA.

Now, Canadian economic experts are having their say, stressing the need to go slowly to get the best deal from the U.S. — without forgetting the importance of global trade policies.

“We’re stronger when we’re together,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, describing the Canada-U.S. relationship.

Sui Sui, an associate professor of Global Management Studies at Ryerson University, said “there’s nothing holding back the U.S. from rejecting NAFTA or TPP.”

Canadian and Mexican negotiators “have to try to get the best deal they can. They have to commit their best resources to get the best deals for their countries because the U.S. is such an important market for Canada and Mexico,” Sui said.

“But at the same time, they must reach farther into other markets. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.”