Trump won’t squander political capital fighting with Canada over NAFTA
TORONTO—For Canadians, the most revealing exchange in the recently leaked transcript of Donald Trump’s conversation with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto was Trump’s response to the Mexican’s proposal to have the three NAFTA partners work jointly to modernize the treaty: “Well, Canada is no problem—do not worry about Canada, do not even think about them,” […]
Expect mostly posturing in first round of NAFTA talks this week
Round 1 of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) gets underway this week, with this initial series of talks expected to see all sides introducing their starting positions, with limited progress beyond that. A Canadian delegation of about dozen people will meet with similar-sized contingents representing the United States and Mexico in Washington, […]
Groups representing education, food, health research lobby on through dog days of summer
Why would anyone want to lobby in the summer? Well, one reason is to explain to the government what a polytechnic is. In these dog days of summer, lobbyists are hard-pressed to find the country’s top elected officials hanging around Ottawa. Yet, a handful of organizations have been particularly busy so far this summer, talking […]
Canada’s effort to include climate change in NAFTA worth a shot
OTTAWA—Canada’s effort to include climate change in the North American Free Trade negotiations is worth a try. But it is likely to get the same kind of reaction from American President Donald Trump that he levels to all climate comers. In Trump world, climate change is in the same category as the real media world […]
It’s go time for Team Trudeau on NAFTA
The ultimate test of the Trudeau government is here in the form of NAFTA renegotiations this week. Between Aug. 16 and 20, the first round of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will take place in Washington, D.C. It’s expected that about three weeks later, another round will be held in Mexico, and […]
In an age when thuggery is global, Beijing has leverage in Caracas
As with so many political developments these days, the most obvious comparison with what unfolded in Caracas in the early moments of Aug. 1 wasn’t a historical precedent or a concurrent outrage in a different country; it was fictional. In this case, Costa-Gavras films dramatizing state thuggery. The scenes of opposition leaders Leopoldo López and Antonio […]
Politics This Morning: Freeland visits China, Champagne talks up CETA in Toronto
Good Wednesday morning, Canada’s top diplomat is in the Far East at a time of heightened tension regionally. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland (University-Rosedale, Ont.) is in Beijing today to co-chair the second annual Canada-China Foreign Affairs Ministers Dialogue, alongside Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. In her first visit as foreign minister to China, Ms. Freeland […]
Liberal voice missing from Freeland’s NAFTA advisory council
OTTAWA—Hopefully NAFTA’s ark won’t spring a leak. The ship of state that will be guiding the country through the treacherous Trumpian waters of North American free trade is anything if not inclusive. The 13-member advisory council announced last week by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland crosses party lines, regional divisions and market divides. From Quebec […]
Reservoir Dogs in the White House
LONDON, U.K.—Anthony Zurcher, the BBC’s North America correspondent, nailed it in a report on July 27. “Where Abraham Lincoln had his famous ‘team of rivals’ in his administration, this is something different,” Zurcher wrote. “Trump White House seems more akin to the final scene in [Quentin Tarantino’s film] Reservoir Dogs, where everyone is yelling and […]
China: a fragile basket
In 1996, I was living in Geneva and was contacted by a Chinese company selling space in an industrial park in the undeveloped Shenzhen economic zone north of Hong Kong. A colleague and I went to London to speak to business leaders. The pitch was pretty simple: any company interested in leasing space in the […]
