Edmonton Chamber president optimistic NAFTA can be saved

Chambers of commerce across the continent have vowed to keep up the pressure to save the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Edmonton chamber president Janet Riopel said.

She was among the representatives from 25 major chambers and boards of trade in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico who met Monday in Montreal to discuss the importance of NAFTA and how to preserve a deal U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to scrap.

“The U.S. (chambers) definitely recognize this is political in nature, that this debate is not going to be won in Washington, D.C., that it needs to be won at the grassroots,” Riopel said. “We can work with our American counterparts to help them understand what the value (of NAFTA) is so they can talk to their decision-makers.”

The group signed a declaration recognizing the importance of free trade and indicating they’ll continue mobilization in favour of updating and maintaining NAFTA.

The Edmonton chamber has already developed a tool kit so members can write to elected officials and tell customers and suppliers why the deal is important, she said.

Negotiators are scheduled to start the sixth round of NAFTA talks Tuesday in Montreal.

A half-dozen members of Canada’s Big City Mayors caucus, chaired by Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, will meet their U.S. counterparts starting Wednesday when they visit Washington for the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting.

The Canadians are expected to highlight the benefits of a strong economic partnership. The Edmonton chamber has provided Iveson with background on NAFTA, Riopel said. She’s optimistic a new deal will be reached.

“All three nations have seen the benefits of this agreement 100fold more than what they probably expected would happen when they started talking about it in the 1980s,” she said.