Canada PM says ready to renegotiate NAFTA with Trump
Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he is willing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which US President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to change or scrap.
During the campaign, Trump called NAFTA the worst trade deal the United States has ever signed, while proposing protectionist measures to repatriate American jobs lost to free trade.
"I think it's important that we be open to talking about trade deals," Trudeau -- a fierce defender of free trade, which helps bolster the Canadian economy -- told reporters.
"If the Americans want to talk about NAFTA, I'm more than happy to talk about it," he said, adding that it was important to periodically reassess trade deals to ensure that they continue to be of benefit to Canadians.
Trudeau called the president-elect on Wednesday to congratulate him on his election victory.
The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) binds 530 million consumers in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Bilateral trade crossing the US-Canadian border amounts to US$1.8 billion daily.
Thirty-four US states rely on trade with Canada, which supports nine million American jobs, while exports to the United States represents 20 percent of Canada's GDP.
MEXICO CITY: Mexico is willing to "modernize" the North American Free Trade Agreement with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration and Canada, but will not renegotiate the pact, the foreign minister said.
Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said NAFTA has "yielded great results" for the three nations, but that there is an opportunity to make it "more beneficial" to all.
"We are willing to talk about this with the new government and with Canada as well," Ruiz Massieu told CNN late Wednesday.
"We think it is an opportunity to think if we should modernize it, not renegotiate it, but to modernize it," Ruiz Massieu said.
NAFTA will be discussed with Trump's transition team in the coming months, she said.
President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Wednesday that he and Trump had agreed to meet, possibly before the New York billionaire's inauguration in January.
yeah, because opening negotiations means jobs flood into the U.S.
NAFTA between canada and the U.S. creates 9M jobs in the USA (that would be almost 30% of canada's population) and yes 20% of canada's GDP is from trade with the U.S.
it can be modernized, but it's not like a cheap canadian labour force stole american jobs. Their will be negotiation around goods and raw materials vs finished products, and probably something around lumber disputes and tariff's, film industry credits, and the vermont vs. quebec maple syrup b.s. along with mutually beneficial oil infrastructure investments.
maybe some fisheries stuff. let's not act like the U.S.A. was so stupid that Mexico and Canada completely outsmarted Bush Sr, Clinton, and Bush Jr.
