Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, top left, looks on as Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, bottom left, Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister for North America Jesus Seade, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, bottom right sign documents during a meeting in Mexico City on Dec. 10, 2019.HENRY ROMERO/Reuters
The renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement pushed U.S.-Canada relations to their worst point since the War of 1812, with the countries not even speaking with each other for months, former U.S. president Donald Trump’s top trade official writes in a new book.
No Trade is Free, a memoir by former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, portrays Canada as an intransigent negotiating partner that often completely refused to engage in substantive talks during the push to overhaul NAFTA. At one point, he says, he even admonished Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top advisors over the “sneaky” tactics of Canadian officials.
Mr. Lighthizer, however, is complimentary of Canada’s point person on the file. He describes then-foreign minister Chrystia Freeland as “quite likely a future prime minister” with whom he shared a “quite friendly” rapport even as they clashed at the bargaining table.
The trilateral talks, which lasted a little more than a year in 2017 and 2018, were a fulfilment of Mr. Trump’s vow to roll back free-trade deals he accused of moving jobs out of the U.S. They culminated in a revised version of NAFTA branded the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, by Mr. Trump.
“Our government stood up for Canadians and our national economic interests during the NAFTA negotiations, and we secured a good deal for Canada,” Katherine Cuplinskas, a spokeswoman for Ms. Freeland, said in a statement in response to Mr. Lighthizer’s account of the discussions.
The former U.S. trade chief argues that Canada is hypocritical for purporting to embrace free trade but maintaining policies meant to keep out foreign competition, such as its “Soviet” supply-management system for dairy and eggs.
“Although outwardly supportive of free trade and internationalist in orientation, Canada is in reality a quite parochial – and at times quite protectionist – country,” Mr. Lighthizer writes.
For the first nine months of talks, Ottawa refused to make “a single meaningful concession” in bargaining, he says, and seemed to think “that the best strategy was not to negotiate with me or anyone in the administration at all.” Instead, the Trudeau government focused on lobbying free-trade-supporting members of Congress to put pressure on the White House to drop its demands.
The situation reached its nadir at the June 2018 G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que. Mr. Trudeau offered an “anemic” NAFTA deal, which Mr. Trump rejected, Mr. Lighthizer recounts. Then, Mr. Trudeau criticized Mr. Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs at a press conference, Mr. Trump called him “very dishonest & weak” on Twitterin response and talks broke off completely.
“U.S.-Canadian relations arguably were at their lowest ebb since the failed American invasion of Upper Canada during the War of 1812,” Mr. Lighthizer writes. “We effectively were at an impasse on every major issue, and the United States and Canada weren’t speaking … NAFTA was hanging on by a thread.”
Things got rolling again when Mexican leaders, frightened by Mr. Trump’s threat to slap 25 per cent tariffs on the country’s auto exports, agreed to a bilateral NAFTA rewrite with the U.S. in late August of 2018. The two countries gave Canada one month to join the deal or risk getting kicked out of the continental trade block.
Ottawa waited nearly three weeks before coming back to the bargaining table, Mr. Lighthizer says. Up to the last minute, Canadian negotiators kept trying to reword the proposed agreement to avoid having to weaken supply management.
Finally, mere hours before his deadline, Mr. Lighthizer writes that he told Katie Telford and Gerald Butts, Mr. Trudeau’s two top staffers at the time, and Ms. Freeland: “No more sneaky shit.” Canada relented and the agreement was sealed. Mr. Lighthizer credits Mr. Butts with keeping talks on track during the final stretch.
Mr. Butts, who left the Prime Minister’s office the following year, said the gist of Mr. Lighthizer’s account is “fair enough,” though he didn’t remember the trade chief’s admonishment.
“It was a team sport on Canada’s side and everyone worked hard to play their roles well,” he wrote in an e-mail. “That could have appeared differently to Lighthizer at the time, but I will say he was a consummate professional in an extraordinarily difficult administration.”
Much of Mr. Lighthizer’s characterization of Canadian negotiating strategy is consistent with The Globe and Mail’s reporting at the time. The Trump administration was surprised by Canada’s resistance to its demands and repeatedly blamed Ottawa for holding up talks.
Mexico’s deal with Mr. Lighthizer was also a sore spot for Canadian officials, who felt undermined by the country going behind their backs. After the agreement was announced, Ms. Freeland privately upbraided Ildefonso Guajardo and Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s economy and foreign ministers, in a meeting on the rooftop terrace of the Canadian embassy in Washington, Canadian and Mexican officials told The Globe at the time.
USMCA ultimately preserved most of NAFTA but made some changes, including setting pay standards in the auto sector – a move designed to push jobs out of low-wage Mexico – more access to Canada’s dairy market for U.S. farmers, and a “sunset” clause obliging the three countries to renegotiate the deal in 16 years.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
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