A former U.S. trade representative warned Canada that trade negotiations with the U.S. would be much less predictable with the Donald Trump administration. Obama-era USTR Michael Froman told Canada-based CBC News much of the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations with the Trump administration will likely be familiar ground, albeit with a less predictable partner. Froman helped lead the Obama administration to reach an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement President Trump removed the United States from upon taking office. Froman says: “We already have renegotiated NAFTA, it was called TPP.” Included in the TPP, Froman says Canada and Mexico agreed to a number of revisions that were not in NAFTA that helped make NAFTA a 21st-century agreement. He says it’s unclear what the new administration will seek that goes beyond the scope of the TPP agreement. Froman, now a distinguished fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, said it can be reasonably expected that the White House will want to address supply management in the dairy industry, and seek changes to softwood lumber, among the vocal criticisms of the Trump administration of late.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.
Share this Post