Trump pre-empts golf for trade calls
President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled an outing on Monday in order to place calls on trade, his spokeswoman said, as he prepares to confront both China and Canada this week.
Reporters were summoned for the presidential motorcade Monday morning, but shortly after Trump emerged from the White House wearing golf attire, the trip was cancelled and the press dismissed for the day. The White House didn’t say where he had planned to go. Trump spent much of the weekend at his northern Virginia golf club.
“The president stayed at the White House to make calls specifically on trade and other international issues,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email. She didn’t elaborate.
Canadian and U.S. negotiators are in talks over a revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement already agreed to by the U.S. and Mexico. Over the weekend, Trump warned Congress that it may have to accept a new version of the trade pact that excludes Canada, a prospect with almost no support in either party.
As soon as Thursday, Trump may also implement tariffs on as much as $200 billion in additional Chinese products, escalating his trade war with the Asian powerhouse.
The president began his Labor Day holiday by attacking Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labour union umbrella group. Trumka had appeared on “Fox News Sunday” questioning how NAFTA could be renegotiated without Canada.
“Our economies are integrated,” Trumka said. “It’s hard to see how that would work without Canada on the deal.”
Trump, who said in a tweet that keeping Canada in the pact isn’t a “political necessity,” belittled Trumka and the labour movement in a tweet. “It is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly. A Dem!” the president said.
He has been counting on union support for his trade negotiations to pressure congressional Democrats into backing new agreements.
The AFL-CIO didn’t respond directly. It posted a tweet on Monday recognizing Labor Day with audio from a Trumka speech that began, “We don’t fear the attacks against us.”
The Trump administration notified Congress on Friday that he planned to sign a trade deal with Mexico in 90 days, and that Canada would be included “if it is willing.” Talks are to resume between U.S. and Canadian negotiators on Wednesday, though Trump has indicated that he is unwilling to compromise on U.S. demands that include its northern neighbour dropping tariffs on U.S. dairy products and eliminating a dispute resolution mechanism in NAFTA.
“If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out,” Trump said in a tweet on Saturday. “Congress should not interfere w/these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off.”
But it’s questionable whether Trump can unilaterally exclude Canada from a deal to replace NAFTA, without the approval of Congress. Any such move would likely face lengthy legal and congressional challenges.