NAFTA talks hang over Trudeau, Trump meeting
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump remained non-committal about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday as he welcomed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House amid simmering disputes over trade between the North American neighbors.
Trudeau joined Trump in the Oval Office at the start of a new round of talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has threatened to withdraw from if he can’t negotiate a better agreement with Canada and Mexico.
“We’re negotiating a NAFTA deal. It’s time after all of these years and we’ll see what happens. It’s possible we won’t be able to make a deal and it’s possible that we will,” Trump said, noting the close relations between the two countries and leaders.
“We have to protect our workers and in all fairness the prime minister wants to protect Canada and his people also. So we’ll see what happens with NAFTA,” Trump said, adding that it “has to be fair to both countries.”
Trudeau, in brief remarks to reporters, spoke of the ties that bind the neighbors and major trading partners.
“We have an incredibly close relationship. Two countries that are interwoven in our economies and our cultures and our peoples,” Trudeau said. “But we have a good partnership and that’s why having an ongoing constructive relationship between the president and the prime minister is really important.”
The trade negotiations this week in Washington have gotten off to a rocky start, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warning that the Trump administration might be sabotaging the talks with unrealistic proposals.
Trudeau, making his second visit to the White House this year, was also expected to raise the Trump administration’s recent decision to hit Canadian manufacturer Bombardier with punishing tariffs on its C Series airliner.
U.S.-based Boeing alleges that Bombardier gets unfair subsidies from the Canadian and British governments.
Trump, who made trade a key part of his 2016 presidential campaign, has repeatedly criticized Canada, alleging that it unfairly blocks U.S. dairy products and subsidizes its softwood lumber industry.
Trudeau said Wednesday he thinks “it is very important and very possible to get a win-win-win” from the NAFTA talks. But he acknowledged that “we have to be ready for anything — and we are.”
Trudeau is scheduled to visit Mexico on Thursday to hold additional discussions on NAFTA.
Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, Luis Videgaray, said Tuesday that his country won’t accept “limited, managed trade,” an apparent reference to demands for higher U.S. and regional content rules on products like auto parts.
“We have to be prepared to say no, and if necessary to get up from the table and if necessary leave the treaty,” Videgaray said, adding, “It would not be the end of the world.”
Videgaray said leaving NAFTA would increase tariffs by an average of about 3.5 percent for the 44 percent of Mexican exports that use NAFTA trade preferences.
He said tariffs would increase by more — around 7 percent — for U.S. businesses exporting to Mexico.
“An abrupt exit from NAFTA would be more of a loss for U.S. exporters than for Mexican ones,” he said.
Thomas Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, appeared to share the sense of threat, saying “We’ve reached a critical moment, and the Chamber has had no choice but to ring the alarm bells.”
“The U.S. business community will stand up for an important agreement that makes North America stronger and more prosperous,” Donohue said Tuesday in Mexico City.