Trump officials kick into damage-control mode with Canada
Trump officials are kissing up to Canada after the president’s G7 attacks on Trudeau
A day after President Donald Trump and his top advisers went on the attack against Canada, members of his Cabinet are taking steps to preserve and strengthen ties with the U.S.’ nearest ally.
In one sign of the change in tone, the Department of Agriculture announced Monday that Secretary Sonny Perdue would head to Canada later this week to meet with his counterpart Lawrence MacAulay.
The trip and photo-op is intended to showcase ongoing cooperation between the two countries on agriculture — and it will fall amid repeated criticism from Trump himself about Canada’s high tariffs on U.S. dairy products in particular that enter the Canadian market.
USDA spokesperson pushed back against the idea that Perdue was heading north to patch things up with Canada, noting that the visit has been in the works for weeks and is part of an ongoing series of meetings Perdue's had with his Mexican or Canadian counterparts over the last year. But the warm overtures of the two leaders contrasts sharply with rhetoric coming out of the White House over the weekend.
In a tweet Monday morning, Perdue celebrated the trip, saying he was “looking forward to visiting my friend & Canadian counterpart @L_MacAulay at Prince Edward Island later this week.“ MacAulay replied in similarly warm fashion with a friendly photo of the two, saying he is “proud to be welcoming my friend“ to discuss ways to cooperate in the agriculture sector.
This weekend, however, Trump’s aides were roundly slamming Canada‘s leader during media interviews. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro antagonized relations between the two countries when he remarked on Sunday that “there’s a special place in hell” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who he said engaged in “bad-faith diplomacy” with Trump.
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser who is normally a proponent of free trade policies, compounded the anger. In an interview on CNN, he complained that Trudeau “really kind of stabbed us in the back” after the leader said Canada would stick to plans to apply retaliatory tariffs to certain U.S. exports beginning next month.
By Monday morning, other Trump Cabinet officials were already working to push past the latest back-and-forth.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke with his counterpart, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, on Sunday evening to discuss the NAFTA renegotiation. Her spokesperson characterized the phone call as "productive and cordial."
A USTR spokesperson was also positive about the discussions: “We are continuing our negotiations with Canada and Mexico both separately and together. We are making progress and hope to reach agreement before too long.”
Freeland herself said Sunday that a meeting she had with Lighthizer on Friday was "good" and that they had agreed to continue NAFTA talks — despite repeated attacks from Trump and renewed threats that the U.S. will withdraw from the deal if it does not get the concessions it wants.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/11/trump-damage-control-canada-612043
Trump officials are kissing up to Canada after the president’s G7 attacks on Trudeau
A day after President Donald Trump and his top advisers went on the attack against Canada, members of his Cabinet are taking steps to preserve and strengthen ties with the U.S.’ nearest ally.
In one sign of the change in tone, the Department of Agriculture announced Monday that Secretary Sonny Perdue would head to Canada later this week to meet with his counterpart Lawrence MacAulay.
The trip and photo-op is intended to showcase ongoing cooperation between the two countries on agriculture — and it will fall amid repeated criticism from Trump himself about Canada’s high tariffs on U.S. dairy products in particular that enter the Canadian market.
USDA spokesperson pushed back against the idea that Perdue was heading north to patch things up with Canada, noting that the visit has been in the works for weeks and is part of an ongoing series of meetings Perdue's had with his Mexican or Canadian counterparts over the last year. But the warm overtures of the two leaders contrasts sharply with rhetoric coming out of the White House over the weekend.
In a tweet Monday morning, Perdue celebrated the trip, saying he was “looking forward to visiting my friend & Canadian counterpart @L_MacAulay at Prince Edward Island later this week.“ MacAulay replied in similarly warm fashion with a friendly photo of the two, saying he is “proud to be welcoming my friend“ to discuss ways to cooperate in the agriculture sector.
This weekend, however, Trump’s aides were roundly slamming Canada‘s leader during media interviews. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro antagonized relations between the two countries when he remarked on Sunday that “there’s a special place in hell” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who he said engaged in “bad-faith diplomacy” with Trump.
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser who is normally a proponent of free trade policies, compounded the anger. In an interview on CNN, he complained that Trudeau “really kind of stabbed us in the back” after the leader said Canada would stick to plans to apply retaliatory tariffs to certain U.S. exports beginning next month.
By Monday morning, other Trump Cabinet officials were already working to push past the latest back-and-forth.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke with his counterpart, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, on Sunday evening to discuss the NAFTA renegotiation. Her spokesperson characterized the phone call as "productive and cordial."
A USTR spokesperson was also positive about the discussions: “We are continuing our negotiations with Canada and Mexico both separately and together. We are making progress and hope to reach agreement before too long.”
Freeland herself said Sunday that a meeting she had with Lighthizer on Friday was "good" and that they had agreed to continue NAFTA talks — despite repeated attacks from Trump and renewed threats that the U.S. will withdraw from the deal if it does not get the concessions it wants.
continued
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/11/trump-damage-control-canada-612043
