PM downplays protectionist trade talk as just rhetoric
Trudeau to host Three Amigos Summit with U.S. and Mexican leaders in June
OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau downplayed concern over protectionist trade talk on the U.S. campaign trail as he announced he will host U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in June and boasted of progress on bilateral irritants.
In a wide-ranging news conference to mark his government’s six-month anniversary in power, Trudeau adopted a diplomatic silence over the rise of Republican front-runner Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP presidential candidate.
Trudeau said he looks forward to working with the next American president “regardless of who that may be” on issues of common interest such as trade, economic growth and innovation — “things that we’re going to be able to line up on.”
“I think one of the things we see in any electoral campaign, including electoral campaigns here in Canada, is a bit of rhetoric around protectionism that tends to dissipate a little bit once the election has come and gone,” Trudeau told reporters.
During the 2008 U.S. primary campaign, then-Democratic nomination rivals Hillary Clinton and Obama said they would renegotiate NAFTA, but once Obama was elected president and Clinton became his secretary of state, there was no bid to reopen the trade deal.
Still, Trump has amped up the rhetoric during the 2016 debates.
Before Sen. Ted Cruz suspended his campaign on Monday, effectively ceding the Republican presidential nomination race to his rival, Trump gave an interview to Breitbart News and turned his sights on Clinton and savaged the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“In fact, NAFTA, which was signed by her husband (Bill Clinton), is the worst economic development deal ever signed in the history of our country — trade deal, I guess you’d call it. The worst trade deal ever signed in the history of our country. It’s cleaned out vast portions of our manufacturing businesses and more,” said Trump.
Trudeau told reporters Tuesday it is “always” important to protect “local jobs” and create economic growth for communities but said “in government, governments find an awful lot to agree on in terms of how to get that done.” He made the comments as he announced he will revive the so-called summit of the “Three Amigos” — leaders of signatory nations to the NAFTA. It’s been more than two years since the summit was held.
The prime minister said he expected to soon announce progress on the lifting of visas on Mexican visitors to Canada — a bilateral sticking point since 2009 when the Harper government slapped on visas to deter would-be illegal immigrants.
Trudeau claimed Tuesday his government has made “headway on a broad number of files” with Obama’s administration in the past six months “and will continue to do so.”