Time for PM to play offence with NAFTA

Even before the U.S. presidential inauguration, Canadians were wringing their hands over what Donald Trump would unleash on us when he ripped up the North American Free Trade Agreement.

While NAFTA isn’t perfect — and few claim it is — entire sectors of our economy have successfully operated under it for two decades.

Major changes to NAFTA would mean major changes to many Canadian industries and jobs that rely heavily on cross border trade.

To date, the Trudeau government’s response has been mainly reactive. Trump leads. We follow. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In many respects, the Prime Minister’s Office has done this quite capably.

Justin Trudeau and his advisers have run a multi-pronged lobbying campaign in response, targeting not just the Trump administration, but many U.S. governors and business leaders.

However, it’s still an inherently defensive approach. We’re just trying to block Trump from scoring on our net. We’re not yet out there trying to win our own victories.

This contrast became starker this week when the Trump administration released an 18-page document it’s obliged to send to Congress detailing the American wish list.

These are not the “tweaks” we were promised. They include scrapping the Chapter 19 dispute resolution panel that often favours Canada, taking issue with our supply management system and calling for the increase of duty-free shopping limits for Americans.

What’s on our wish list? We don’t know. Our government hasn’t released one.

While it’s arguably beneficial for the other side to have its cards on the table while we don’t, it does send a message we don’t have any offence.

Trump is doing what Trump does best. It’s his art of the deal. He throws a bunch of demands on the table.

Meanwhile, our side tries to water down the worst of his demands, instead of lobbying for Canada’s own requests.

Canada and the U.S. have a good trade balance as it stands now and former NAFTA negotiators have said it’s reasonable to update a 25-year-old trade agreement.

However, there are still grave risks for the Canadian economy if Trudeau fails to be a tough, fair and sensible negotiator. So far, the PM has played great defence. Now it’s time for some offence on free trade.