Trump’s NAFTA negotiator: ‘Time is running very short’

The San Francisco Bay Area has become increasingly important to the Canadian government, said Rana Sankar, the consul general of Canada in San Francisco.

There is speculation Canada will be exempt from new tariffs on steel and aluminum expected to be announced by US President Donald Trump this afternoon.

“As a key NORAD and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, and as the number one customer of American steel, Canada would view any trade restrictions on Canadian steel and aluminium as absolutely unacceptable”, said Freeland at the closing press conference.

Speaking on “Fox and Friends” Monday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said: “25 percent on steel, and the 10 percent on aluminum, no country exclusions – firm line in the sand”.

There can be no question: the overcapacity problem that plagues us has been caused by the Chinese.

Mexico, the third biggest trading partner with the U.S., was also exempted from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. He was apparently convinced by Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross and Trade Director Peter Navarro that USA industry could only be protected by building a fortress around America to block trans-shipped Chinese metals.

Perhaps NAFTA needed updating, but the way to address that situation is not by imposing punitive, hurtful tariffs on your largest trading partner and ripping up a long-standing agreement. It’s not that China needs all this steel, however.

“It hurts the administration politically because trade wars, protectionism, they lead to higher prices for individual Americans”, Phillips said. “We win when we work together; when we build markets together and supply chains together”.

By law, the tariffs need to be described as a national security matter. The prime minister has shown admirable self-restraint in his exchanges with the mercurial Trump and Thursday was the pay-off for abasing himself before the alpha dog president at the White House last October.

Canada is now in talks to join the Pacific Alliance – a trade bloc including Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. “If necessary we would consider any section 232 action directed at Canada to be totally unacceptable and in that event, we would take responsive measures to defend our workers and our industry”. The president also suggested that Canada might get an exemption if it agrees to a “new and fair” NAFTA deal with the U.S.

A broken clock is right twice a day, but the clock is still broken. On Monday morning, the president went after one of those allies, criticizing America’s northern neighbor as a trade conflict between Washington and Ottawa nears.

Over $2.4 billion worth of goods and services cross the Canada-U.S. border daily, according to the Canadian government. Victories in big steel-producing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and in demonstrated that his tough trade talk had a receptive audience.

What is certain, however, is that Canadian aluminium producers were taken by surprise by US president Donald Trump’s premature announcement.

Tariffs and trade generally are critical issues that should be paramount importance to all of my Democratic colleagues.

Japan, another major U.S. ally in Asia, called Trump’s decision to impose tariffs “regrettable”.

This is a lesson that many Democrats must reckon with. He added NAFTA has created a strong trade bloc between the three countries which benefits each country. And the Trump chaos must end.