MacAulay, Trump to address U.S. farm sector in Nashville speeches

OTTAWA • Federal cabinet ministers have fanned out south of the border in hope of energizing U.S. supporters of the beleaguered NAFTA deal as yet another critical round of talks is set to begin in Montreal later this month.

In this latest effort to sing NAFTA’s praises to the Americans, the stakes appear highest for Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay.

On Sunday, MacAulay will deliver Ottawa’s message from a big stage in Nashville, where he will become the first Canadian cabinet minister to deliver a keynote address at the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. The conference is a huge gathering of more than 5,000 delegates from across the U.S. agricultural industry.

MacAulay’s speech comes at a crucial time for the future of the deal, which he says has had big impact on the continent’s farming sectors.

But the significance of his address will be even greater given the higher-profile event on the convention calendar expected in the days after his appearance — a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump, who will become the first American president to address the convention since George H.W. Bush in 1992, has repeatedly threatened to begin withdrawing the U.S. from the agreement.

“It’s without a question a big deal,” MacAulay told The Canadian Press in an interview when asked about speaking before Trump at the same convention. “This is very important, this meeting, in my opinion, and I’m very pleased to be there and hopefully it works well.”

Fortunately for MacAulay, the U.S. farm lobby has been a leader in opposing the push to abandon NAFTA, which means his pro-trade message is likely to get a warmer reception than that of his presidential counterpart.

In his address, MacAulay is expected to remind the crowd how about 80 food and agriculture organizations sent a warning to the U.S. administration that pulling out of NAFTA would immediately hurt their industries and kills tens of thousands of jobs.

MacAulay, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale have all been meeting political and business leaders in the U.S. this week to promote NAFTA’s benefits.

Their visits come ahead of the next round of bargaining, which starts Jan. 23 in Montreal.