Trudeau, Trump set a date
TRUDEAU WILL BE ON A CHARM OFFENSIVE TO PROTECT $541B IN ANNUAL TRADE
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with Donald Trump next week as the president’s protectionist push threatens $541 billion in annual trade between Canada and the U.S.
Trudeau will visit Washington on Monday, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. The visit is expected to be a far cry from the warm state dinner thrown by Barack Obama for Trudeau a year earlier — a close relationship the prime minister later termed “dudeplomacy.”
But Trudeau will still have to try to charm the president on a visit where thorns loom large. The U.S. pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement prompted Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet to mount a wide-reaching lobbying effort to preach the gospel of Canadian trade. A Trump ally sought to reassure Canada in January that its trade ties — roughly in balance — were not the primary target, and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has since found a receptive ear in Washington.
Trudeau tweeted on Thursday, “Strong Canada-U.S. ties help the middle class in both our countries.”
“Monday, I’ll meet @realDonaldTrump in D.C. to keep working for that goal.”
The White House announced the encounter at its daily press briefing, where spokesman Sean Spicer said: “The president looks forward to a constructive conversation in strengthening the deep relationship that exists between the United States and Canada.”
The first official meeting follows weeks of back-and-forth about setting a tangible agenda beyond pleasantries and first-encounter photo ops.
Several people familiar with the planning said uncertainty about the date lingered for a reason — the Canadian side wanted specific results, while the American administration is still busy getting its cabinet confirmed.
The scheduling drama was further fuelled by a spectacular public rift between Trump and the president of Mexico last month, scrubbing plans for a potential trilateral meeting of the continent’s Three Amigos.
Canada has been at pains to emphasize the nine million American jobs tied to trade with the country.
The Canadian government keeps repeating that number again, and again. It’s working to drill that figure into the memory of every American it meets. Different cabinet ministers were in Washington this week, reciting that statistic with metronomic regularity.
The latest was Finance Minister Bill Morneau. In a speech to Georgetown University, he referred to the nine million jobs; the fact that trade-related jobs pay more; and the fact that trade surpluses and deficits are fairly even in the northern half of the continent, which appears to be a priority for the Trump team.
Freeland visited the U.S. capital this week, meeting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and House Speaker Paul Ryan, among others. She told reporters afterward Canada won’t shy away from a fight and is “strongly opposed” to new tariffs, but that she was “pushing on an open door” with the new administration.
“What has struck me is the kind of all-hands-ondeck approach to the Trump presidency,” said Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. “The message is, quite clearly, we’re going to work with this administration, we’re going to work with whomever is in the White House, because it is Canada’s interest to do so.”
One prominent analyst of Canada-U.S. relations said Canada has one major advantage working for it right now: Trump could use some productive international relationships.
The Mexicans are furious. Hostile phone conversations with the leaders of Australia and France have been leaked to the media. The leaders of the U.K. and Spain have extended an olive branch — only to face a backlash from their own citizens, who want that branch pulled back.
The U.S. president was even declared persona non grata by the Speaker of the U.K. Parliament.
“Trump is looking for some victories right now,” said Laura Dawson, of Washington’s Canada Institute at the Wilson Center.
“You’re not going to invite a world leader to your office in order to treat them badly. So I think they’ll be looking for an ‘announceable’ that will be a mutual win for both of them .... Showing himself to have a positive relationship with Trudeau will help Trump’s image and success at home.”