PM: Realities of governing may temper Trump’s tone
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — U.S. Presidentelect Donald Trump’s tough-talking campaign rhetoric might take a more moderate tone once he takes office and confronts the geopolitical realities of the economic challenges before him, Justin Trudeau suggested Friday.
Throughout his trip through Latin America this week, the prime minister has been dogged by a question being posed to — and by — leaders the world over ever since last week’s U.S. election: what to do about Trump?
First in Cuba and then in Argentina, Trudeau’s response has consistently sought to soothe nerves jangled by the prospect of a belligerent U.S. president bent on limiting his country’s considerable involvement in trade and global affairs.
Candidates say many things on the campaign trail, Trudeau told a business audience during a question-and-answer session at a luncheon in Buenos Aires. Generating economic growth in order to quell rising anxieties, however, demands that countries reach out to potential partners outside their borders, he said.
“The president-elect in the United States certainly heard and felt and drew on the anxiety and the anger that people are feeling about why the economy is not working,” Trudeau told his audience.
“But I am also very, very confident that if you are serious about creating growth that works for the middle class that is struggling, you need to do it through progressive, responsible trade deals,” he said.
He played down lingering concerns about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has promised to renegotiate or abandon entirely if he doesn’t get a deal to his liking.
A leaked memo to CNN reportedly has Trump focusing on changes that focus on softwood lumber and country-of-origin labelling, two areas in which Canada has repeatedly fought for concessions from the Americans.
Trudeau said NAFTA has been amended a dozen times over the past two decades and Canadian officials are always looking at opportunities to strengthen the trade pact.