Ties to remain strong, governors tell Canada

Trudeau tells conference that ‘free trade has worked, and is working,’ if imperfectly

The prime minister spoke of Canada’s relentless — but “polite” — push to retain strong trading ties with the United States at a meeting of governors he attended with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne just days before details on NAFTA renegotiations are to be released.

Speaking to the governors on Friday, Trudeau praised the “historic relationship” between the two nations, and cited trade numbers as a reminder that Canada is America’s biggest economic partner, with nine million U.S. workers “whose jobs depend directly on trade” with our nation and how this country is the top export market for two-thirds of all states.

And — to laughter — he noted Canadians pay $500 million in property tax each year in Florida alone.

“We are repeating those (trade) numbers to U.S. audiences every chance we can get,” he also said. “To boil this down to one point, Canada is the United States’ biggest, best customer, by far. We are a bigger customer than China . . . bigger than Japan or the U.K. No one even comes close.

“. . . We are polite in our relentless- ness in sharing that message.”

Amid calls for “buy America” provisions as well as upcoming changes to NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trudeau noted “free trade has worked, and it is working now” but agreed it’s not perfect.

It “should be updated and modernized as it has been a dozen times over the past quarter century” to benefit workers in all three countries, he said, noting that protectionist policies are “politically tempting shortcuts” that only serve to “kill growth” and hurt workers.

The mandate for NAFTA renegotiations is due out early next week “so we’ll have a better idea” of what’s to come, Wynne said in a telephone interview.

“Certainly the Mexican delegates are concerned and they want to make sure that there’s not a real undermining of their position, but there’s such a willingness to work on a tripartite agreement, such an understanding of the supply chain among governors that I spoke to — both Republican and Democrat — I think that’s what is making me feel optimistic.”

Wynne next heads to the Council of the Federation on Monday, a meeting of premiers from across the country, where issues like trade, the looming softwood lumber deal and the opioid crisis are expected to be discussed.