Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday took part in talks at the White House with US President Donald Trump, seeking to nurture economic ties. A year ago, Trudeau was toasting then-President Barack Obama, calling him a "sibling." Now, the Canadian leader is starting over. He is on a mission to find common ground with the new leader of Canada’s southern neighbor.
But can Trudeau turn a shared experience between Trump and his father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, into a shared future for the US and Canada?
A comprehensive trading relationship is on the line. More than two billion US dollars in goods cross the border between the US and Canada each day. Trump has vowed to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that covers the US, Canada and Mexico. But Canadians have become more supportive of NAFTA since Trump's election victory. The latest study from the Angus Reid Institute finds 44 percent of Canadians now say NAFTA has benefited their country, compared to just 25 percent who said this last June. Likewise, 24 percent now say they would like to see the deal renegotiated, down from 34 percent last year. On Monday, Trump clarified he sees greater trade problems with Mexico than with Canada. He said: "We will be tweaking it. We'll be doing certain things that are gonna benefit both of our countries. It's a much less severe situation than what's taking place on the southern border."
But what exactly does “tweaking” mean for the two sides? John McArthur, who is a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development Program, explained to “World Insight with Tian Wei” that NAFTA means different things to the two sides. “To the US, NAFTA is the link to immigration issues, is the link to concerns about the border issues. On the Canadian side, this is much more about the first order, the trading relationship with the US.” But they differ widely on refugee policy. While Trump has ordered an indefinite travel ban on Syrian refugees, Trudeau has personally opened his arms wide to these and other refugee groups. He suggested it's possible without sacrificing national security.
“In fact, Canada does a better job making sure that people who come here are appropriate to come. The US, on the other hand, flooded with millions of people from the western hemisphere, uninvited, many of whom become problems, but most of whom are fine. They have different historical problems with immigration than Canada has,” said Diane Francis, the editor-at-large for the National Post and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. But Yves Tiberghien, who is a senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, suggested that common interest would be the most important thing for Canada and the US. He explained: “If you look back two years ago, we have the reverse in the political spectrum. We had a conservative prime minister in Canada and we had President Obama in the US. It’s no more than parties and politics go up and down and switches left and right. Yes they come from different parts of the ideological spectrum, but there is something when you have such a common interest.”The two leaders announced only one new joint effort: a council for women business leaders, ranging from women leading the steel and auto sectors, to Tina Lee, the CEO of the largest Asian grocery store chain in Canada.
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