Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a move out of President Trump’s playbook over the weekend, offering his own threats to walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trudeau says there are several reasons Canada could choose not to accept the renegotiated agreement. Speaking at a town hall event, Bloomberg reports that Trudeau said, “Canada is willing to walk away from NAFTA if the United States proposes a bad deal…We won’t be pushed around.” However, he says he believes NAFTA is beneficial for all its member countries.
While Trudeau didn’t go into specifics of the “several reasons” that could cause Canada to walk away, officials from Canada have routinely said that a change in the nations dairy policy is a non-starter. U.S. dairy farmers want Canada to change its dairy supply-management system that they say is propping up the Canada dairy industry at the expense of U.S. dairies. But, with more market access granted under the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, that does not include the U.S., Canada dairy groups say they’ve “had enough” and won’t give up further ground in NAFTA.
Source: NAFB News Service