Can General Kelly #MakeAmericaRealAgain?
In our shock-addled scrounging for some familiar prism through which to process events in Washington, it’s been easy to compare Donald Trump’s presidency to a reality show. The spectacle unfolding at the White House offers, among other reality show tropes, the one element Mark Burnett would demand in a prime-time production. It stars a belligerent, […]
New Mexican envoy who worked on NAFTA is back for round two
Mexico’s new ambassador has arrived in Canada just as preparations for a NAFTA renegotiation are heating up, so it’s likely no coincidence that the presidential-appointee has first-hand knowledge of the deal. Dionisio Pérez Jácome has a lengthy resume in Mexico’s public service, including a stint in the agriculture ministry in which he pitched in with […]
Meet the poker-faced top trade mind expected to lead Canada’s NAFTA negotiating team
There’s a long-standing joke among those who know Steve Verheul: you don’t want to play poker with the guy. At the table, no matter the subject, Canada’s former-CETA-now-expected-NAFTA chief negotiator doesn’t have a “tell.” “It’s the same reaction, whether it’s good, bad, or different, which makes being a negotiator against him or with him tricky,” […]
Free trade with China a major challenge for Trudeau
TORONTO—Is the Trudeau government mishandling the China file? Canadians are divided on China, and there are real concerns that the Trudeau government may be undermining Canadian interests to appease China, in order to get a free trade deal. Canadians can see the job-creating benefits from expanded exports to China, the new economic superpower with its […]
Good news in USTR release? All three countries have agriculture sensitivities
OTTAWA—The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the long-awaited and highly anticipated NAFTA objectives last Monday as per its Trade Promotion Authority obligations. As negotiating mandates and strategies get developed for all three countries, these objectives provide a key line of sight into the Trump administration’s thinking. And while there are very […]
U.S. demand for major changes to NAFTA big implications for our economy, negotiations will be difficult
TORONTO—Make no mistake. The U.S. demand for major changes to NAFTA has big implications for our own economy and the negotiations will be difficult. So much for “tweaking” the agreement. This being the case, Canada should make it clear, from day one of the negotiations, that we won’t be pushed into a fast agreement just […]
Trump’s pick for ambassador to Canada talks NAFTA at U.S. Senate nomination hearing
The woman who could be the first female United States ambassador to Canada was asked about NAFTA and trade promotion but not much else at a U.S. Senate nomination hearing today. U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador, Kelly Knight Craft, appeared before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee July 20, though throughout the nearly […]
Politics This Morning: Scheer to name House leadership team today
Good Thursday morning, He’s already named his chief of staff and other senior staff, and today new Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is expected to announce his House leadership team. The leader of the official opposition is planning to hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa to reveal the […]
The Trump-Brexit axis of idiocy: a status report
A year on from the cataclysmic Brexit vote and six months into the cataclysmic presidency of Donald Trump, what can be observed about the state of both? When Bank of England governor Mark Carney predicted ahead of the Brexit referendum that a vote to leave the European Union would be the biggest domestic threat to […]
Trump’s NAFTA agenda looks like a campaign rant
OTTAWA—It’s hard to imagine that relations between Canada and its long-time United States ally could ever come to this. Just weeks before the start of renegotiation of the free-trade concepts that have shaped Canada-U.S. commercial relations for nearly three decades, the Canadian economy has been twisting in the wind while President Donald Trump’s cabinet careened […]
