Fearing protectionism, Canada’s Trudeau reaches out to U.S. Congress

OTTAWA, (Reuters) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached out in a video address to the new U.S. Congress yesterday to stress how tightly linked the economies of Canada and the United States are, amid fears of a protectionist Trump administration.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to either renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has said overhauling trade policy will be a top priority after he takes office on Jan. 20.

Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and could suffer from changes to NAFTA, which also includes Mexico.

In the video address, Trudeau and David MacNaughton, the Canadian ambassador to Washington, stressed the closeness of ties between the neighbours.

“We’ve built an economic relationship that supports jobs in every Congressional district. We are the largest international customer for goods and services made in the USA,” said Trudeau, who was filmed in his office in front of the U.S. and Canadian flags.

MacNaughton said Canada was ready to work with Congress to make the lives of citizens in both nations better and more prosperous.

Christine Constantin, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington, said ambassadors had sent video greetings to the two previous opening sessions of Congress.

Trudeau, who has made ties with the United States a priority, was asked by the embassy to appear in the video, she said. Trudeau spokesman Cameron Ahmad declined to elaborate on the video, saying the prime minister’s message spoke for itself.

In the run-up to the 2016 U.S election, Canadian diplomats fanned out across the country to stress that Canada is the top export destination for 35 U.S. states and that nine million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Canada.