Canada staying out of USMCA debate
Freeland says it’s up to Americans to navigate process, see deal through
After more than a year of wooing bipartisan support in the United States to ensure cross-border free trade did not collapse in a wave of protectionism and “America First” rhetoric, the Canadian government says it will stand back as the American debate over the new trade pact picks up steam.
In Windsor, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was not concerned by reports south of the border that Democrats are starting to demand changes to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, or that it could delay ratification of the deal, saying she had done her job to ensure the new pact would have broad support in Canada.
“When it comes to the U.S. it was the job of Ambassador (Robert) Lighthizer to negotiate a deal that would be supported in his country. Ambassador Lighthizer is a professional and I leave to him the U.S. political process and the U.S. ratification process,” Freeland told reporters.
“Indeed, I think it would be really presumptuous for me or the government of Canada to presume that we can get in- volved in the U.S. ratification process in the same way that I think we would consider it presumptuous for the U.S. to get involved in our own ratification process.”
Right now, the USMCA is an agreement-in-principle that would, if ratified by all three countries, replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. The White House had hoped Mexico would ratify before a newly elected Mexican administration is sworn in on Dec. 1.
However, American lawmakers have said the deal would not be ratified in the U.S. until 2019.
Meanwhile, the traditionally protectionist Democrat party has won control of the House of Representatives.
Freeland’s determination to stand aside while Democrats and Republicans try to settle any differences on trade stands in contrast to the all-out yearlong “Team Canada” effort the federal Liberal government coordinated among premiers and others to shore up American support for free trade at national, state and district levels.
But Freeland was quick to remind Canadians that “while each country goes through its ratification process … the current NAFTA is in place.”
That agreement remains the legal framework that governs $2 billion worth of trade that flows between the United States and Canada every day.
Some have called on the Canadian government to continue a full-court press, especially with a whole new crop of lawmakers elected last week to the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democrats have gained control of the chamber where money bills, such as trade ratification or implementation legislation, originate.