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Lucylastic -> Advisors ask Trudeau to talk trump down over NAFTA (5/9/2017 10:47:40 PM)
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White House advisors called Ottawa to urge Trudeau to help talk Trump down from scrapping NAFTA
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/white-house-urged-trudeau-to-call-trump-over-nafta-threat
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.”
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Donnie Dementia seems to need more help than has ever been known, or at least since reagan went a little loopy.
But hey it worked to block one door of his revolving idiocy.
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