[CTC] White House officials asked Trudeau to plead NAFTA's case to Trump

[Arthur Stamoulis]

A few articles below….

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/white-house-urged-trudeau-to-call-trump-over-nafta-threat <http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/white-house-urged-trudeau-to-call-trump-over-nafta-threat>
White House advisors called Ottawa to urge Trudeau to help talk Trump down from scrapping NAFTA

John Ivison <http://news.nationalpost.com/author/jivisonnp> | May 8, 2017 6:36 PM ET


White House staff called the Prime Minister’s Office last month to urge Justin Trudeau to persuade President Donald Trump not to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to multiple Canadian government sources.

The unconventional diplomatic manoeuvre — approaching the head of a foreign government to influence your own boss — proved decisive, as Trump thereafter abandoned his threat to pull out of NAFTA unilaterally, citing the arguments made by Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto as pivotal.

But the incident highlights the difficulties faced by governments all over the world when it comes to dealing with a president as volatile as Trump.

On Wednesday, April 26, the Washington Post, Politico, CNN and the New York Times published stories saying that sources within the White House were considering a draft executive order to cancel NAFTA. The rumour knocked almost two per cent off the Mexican peso and a third of a cent off the loonie.

Media reports in Washington suggested a debate was underway within the White House about how aggressively to move on the reshaping of NAFTA, with hardliners pushing Trump to withdraw unilaterally before his 100th day in office. According to Politico, Peter Navarro, the head of Trump’s National Trade Council, and White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon drafted an executive order that, if signed, would have triggered the withdrawal process. It was unclear according to those reports whether the draft order was prepared as a negotiating tactic or in the hopes Trump might actually move forward with it.

The President was said to be persuaded by the argument to kill what he has repeatedly called the “worst trade deal ever,” despite concerns about the economic disruption that might result.

According to Canadian government sources, White House advisers pushing a more cautious approach then called Ottawa to ask for Trudeau’s assistance.

“You never know how much of it is theatre, but it didn’t feel that way,” said one senior Canadian diplomatic source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. “Maybe they’re just learning how to be a government. At least they were open to the conversation, and that stopped them doing something rash and destructive.”

Trudeau called Trump late that afternoon, and around the same time Nieto and Trump spoke by phone. By 7 p.m., the White House had issued a statement saying the President had agreed not to terminate NAFTA.

The diplomatic source suggested that the decision to reconsider was pay-off for the relationships that have been built between the Prime Minister’s Office and the White House.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister told the National Post Monday she had no comment to make. The White House did not respond by publication time to a request for comment.

Trump subsequently insisted he was not bluffing about threatening to pull out of NAFTA but that the phone calls with Trudeau and Pena Nieto prompted a change of heart.

“I like both these gentlemen very much,” Trump said. “I respect their countries very much. The relationship is very special. And I said, I will hold on the termination — let’s see if we can make it a fair deal.”

Trump acknowledged a speedy U.S. withdrawal would be a “pretty big shock to the system,” which was the basis of Trudeau’s argument. In a news conference in Saskatchewan the next day, Trudeau said he had told Trump that withdrawing from NAFTA would cost U.S. jobs.

The official readout of the call issued by the White House on April 26 deals with both the Trump-Trudeau and Trump-Nieto conversations, saying “both conversations were pleasant and productive” and that “the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries.” 

“It is an honor to deal with both President Peña Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better,” the readout quoted Trump as saying.

The readout the Prime Minister’s office released that evening was shorter. “The Prime Minister spoke this evening with President Trump of the United States,” it said. “The two leaders continued their dialogue on Canada-U.S. trade relations, with the Prime Minister reinforcing the importance of stability and job growth in our trade relations.”




http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/332459-report-white-house-officials-asked-trudeau-to-plead-naftas-case-to <http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/332459-report-white-house-officials-asked-trudeau-to-plead-naftas-case-to>
Report: White House officials asked Trudeau to plead NAFTA's case to Trump

By Vicki Needham <http://thehill.com/author/vicki-needham> - 05/08/17 07:00 PM EDT
White House officials enlisted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help convince President Trump not to unilaterally withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to a Monday report.

The unique and potentially embarrassing approach, which was first reported by Canada’s National Post <http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/white-house-urged-trudeau-to-call-trump-over-nafta-threat>, apparently worked. Following phone calls with Trudeau and Mexican President Peña Nieto, Trump backed off of reported plans to pull out of NAFTA last month.

Instead, Trump announced that he would renegotiate the 23-year-old deal agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Trade tensions rose at the end of last month after the U.S. slapped a 20 percent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber.

The threat of a departure from NAFTA brought expressions of concern from the agricultural sector, lawmakers on Capitol Hill, business groups and labor unions.

Trump, who is highly skeptical of free trade agreements, threatened to spike NAFTA more than once during his presidential campaign. Rumors that the U.S. might leave the three-nation deal led to two pivotal phone calls between Trump and the leaders of the neighboring nations.

Multiple Canadian government sources told the National Post that White House advisers who favored staying in the deal reached out Trudeau to press the case.

“You never know how much of it is theatre, but it didn’t feel that way,” one senior Canadian diplomatic source said. “Maybe they’re just learning how to be a government. At least they were open to the conversation, and that stopped them doing something rash and destructive.”



http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/08/white_house_staff_reportedly_asked_canada_s_trudeau_to_convince_trump_to.html <http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/08/white_house_staff_reportedly_asked_canada_s_trudeau_to_convince_trump_to.html>
White House Staff Reportedly Asked Justin Trudeau to Convince Trump to Save NAFTA

By Elliot Hannon <http://www.slate.com/authors.elliot_hannon.html>
The long arm of Justin Trudeau’s charm knows no earthly bounds. As the Trump administration debated last month following through on its campaign promise <http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/23/trump_to_withdraw_from_tpp_and_renegotiate_nafta.html> to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement, the hunky Canadian Prime Minster’s powers of persuasion were called upon by an unusual source to try to save Clinton-era trade deal—the White House. Huh? The Canadian newspaper National Post reports <http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/white-house-urged-trudeau-to-call-trump-over-nafta-threat>—citing multiple sources in the Canadian government—that Trump’s staff reached out to Trudeau to enlist him in the effort to save NAFTA. And it worked. Or at least it helped. After a flurry of talks with Trudeau and Mexican President Peña Nieto, Trump, against all odds, decided against withdrawing from the accord.

"Well, I was going to terminate NAFTA as of two or three days from now," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on April 27th. "The president of Mexico, who I have a very good relationship, called me. And also, the prime minister of Canada, who I have a very good relationship, and I like both of these gentlemen very much. They called me. They said, 'Rather than terminating NAFTA, could you please renegotiate?' I like them very much, I respect their countries very much. The relationship is very special. And I said, 'I will hold on the termination, let's see if we can make it a fair deal.'"

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where a member of the president’s White House recruits a foreign head of state to lobby the president, but an extraordinary presidency requires extraordinary methods. “You never know how much of it is theatre, but it didn’t feel that way,” a senior Canadian diplomatic source told the National Post said of the request to persuade Trump. “Maybe they’re just learning how to be a government. At least they were open to the conversation, and that stopped them doing something rash and destructive.”


https://apnews.com/83a8c5856a5c4f48adcd1e07980144d3 <https://apnews.com/83a8c5856a5c4f48adcd1e07980144d3>
Kushner emerged as conduit for Canada on NAFTA talks
By JULIE PACE and CATHERINE LUCEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the day the White House threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, emerged as a key conduit between the United States and Canada.
But his role has sparked a cross-border game of telephone and conflicting accounts about who called who first.
According to a White House official, aides to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Kushner urgently on April 26 after seeing news reports that Trump was considering signing an executive order withdrawing from NAFTA. Kushner, who has an expansive profile that includes foreign policy, speaks regularly to Canadian officials on a range of issues.
Kushner told his Canadian counterpart that this was a matter the leaders needed to discuss themselves, according to the White House official, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss private conversations. The Canadians asked when Trudeau should call. After checking at the White House, Kushner called back to say Trump was ready to talk now.
Trump has cited the call from Trudeau that quickly followed as the impetus for his decision to abandon the executive order and instead move to renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico. The president also wielded the call from Trudeau, as well as a separate call from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, as proof that he has leverage over the other North American leaders as negotiations begin.
But accounts of Kushner’s involvement differed Monday in Canadian media reports. According to The Canadian Press news agency, it was Kushner who first reached out to Trudeau’s chief of staff to suggest a call between the two leaders.
Kushner, who worked as a real estate executive in New York before taking a job in the White House, is seen as a more moderate influence on the president. He’s also seen as more favorable to international trade agreements like NAFTA than some White House advisers, and a phone call from him to the Canadian prime minister could be viewed as an attempt to push Trump in his direction.
A spokeswoman for Trudeau declined comment.
___
Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
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