Methinks all Proud Canadians should not care what the mindless Yankee Majority Whip Steve Scalise says about anything N'esy Pas?

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David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos 

Replying to @DavidRayAmos @Kathryn98967631 and 48 others
Methinks all Proud Canadians should not care what the mindless Yankee Majority Whip Steve Scalise says about anything N'esy Pas?

http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/09/methinks-all-proud-canadians-should-not.html


#TrudeauMustGo #nbpoli #cdnpoli #TrumpKnew


 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/top-republican-scalise-nafta-canada-1.4828544



 

'There is a growing frustration': Top Republican slams Canada's NAFTA negotiating tactics

Trump administration wants a new NAFTA by month's end to meet congressional deadlines

John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2018 3:16 PM ET

1701 Comments

 
Neil Austen

There is no NAFTA without Canada. Canada will decide its fate. It's not the end of the world for Canada if NAFTA dies. Trade will continue between Canada and the U.S. but just at a slower rate of growth. Let Trump fail once again and when a new president is elected in two years, grown up negotiations can take place.

David Amos

@Neil Austen I prefer if they just finally rid us of NAFTA

 
Arthur Vandalay

"We blame Canada for not bowing to our ridiculous demands in a 'negotiation' which the president has admitted the US has no interest in any form of compromise!"

David Amos

@Arthur Vandalay YUP That Trump's logic at its finest

 
Barbara Dwyer

It's mid-September. Canada is better off to stall until after the US election.

If Republicans hold on, fine, we try to make do and wrap it up in November.

If the Republicans are ousted, we go for a better, fairer deal for all sides.

But if no reasonable deal is forthcoming, we toss it and go back to the old ways.

Troy Mann

@Barbara Dwyer

All Canada needs to do is to say it is a bad deal for Canada and Mexico which is why we wouldn't sign onto it.

Mexico voted out the guy who wants the deal done, the people of Mexico will want answers why they are accepting a bad deal...

David Amos

@Troy Mann Imagine you and I agreeing on something?

  
Richard Baumann

The only party not negotiating in good faith is the US. No deal is better than a bad deal. Time is on Canada's side.

David Amos

@Richard Baumann I agree

  
Michael Murphy

"Canada alone is to blame for the "continued delay.""

Odd, Canada never demanded a new NAFTA

Garfield Stephenson Wu

@Michael Murphy Exactly. It was the loose cannon in the White House that demanded it in the first place, and we just decided to go along with it while luring him and his gang into a trap. Then, when T45 and the Grand Obsolete Party started running out of time and luck and realize that Canada wouldn't cave in to their bullying tactics and their unreasonable demands, they start to grow desperate and throw anything that comes into their little heads. Let's sit tight and leave T45 and his party to their fates.

David Amos

@Garfield Stephenson Wu "we just decided to go along with it while luring him and his gang into a trap."

Who is we?

  
Alex Aggy

That's nice dear.

I'm no "Top Canadian" or anything, but I slam the US' predatory and completely unhinged negotiation tactics of "here are our demands, deal with it, no compromise, no negotiation" sprinkled with completely ridiculous threats and insults from the president.

These GOP officials would complain about us negotiation no matter what, unless we completely caved to their demands, at which point they'd probably come up with even more demands to shove down our throats.

I don't care. I don't care if Trump's feelings are hurt, or the GOP things we are being hard cases. We can't give in to their demands without dismantling Canada as a nation, so forget about it.

If this were a corporate takeover attempt, the other company would have walked away from the table long ago.

Nick Stoke

@Alex Aggy

Maybe bringing in "native" concerns, "environmenta"l concerns and "gender balance" to a FINANCIAL deal with very serious repercussions for this country might have been a bad idea. ( I guess Jr didn't learn from his China trade fiasco)
I know but but Trump....

David Amos

@Nick Stoke Methinks you should quit the "but but Trump" stuff and Google the following if you seek true enlightenment N'esy Pas?

Trump Cohen David Amos NAFTA TPP FATCA

  
Jonas David Jones

In a scant few weeks Mr Scalise will be the MINORITY whip.
These threats are the last desperate measures of a sinking Trump and GOP. Canada will be in a much stronger negotiating position in November. We must wait them out.

David Amos

@Jonas David Jones "In a scant few weeks Mr Scalise will be the MINORITY whip"

If he keeps his seat in Congress

David Amos

@David Amos Trust that I just called that Yankee

https://www.facebook.com/pg/RepSteveScalise/about/?ref=page_internal

  
Archie Coufakis

No deal is better than a bad deal

John Young

@Archie Coufakis

So original. Wow.

David Amos

@John Young Methinks a snide "wow" ain't much better N'esy Pas?

  
Kyle Smith

"The third most senior Republican in Congress ... urging Canadian negotiators to either drop some of their hardball tactics or risk being left out of a new NAFTA entirely."

... He said hypocritically employing the exact same 'hardball' tactics that he just argued against!

Kyle Smith

@Kyle Smith

Did anyone else notice that Steve Scalise's comment is basically saying "Stop resisting our unreasonable demands!" ?

David Amos

@Kyle Smith I did

 

Richard Baumann

Notice how the GOP trots this dipstick out in an attempt to put pressure on Canada to sign a sub par deal? Deejay needs a deal because he knows that the current Congress will not approve anything but a trilateral deal.

David Amos

@Richard Baumann Welcome to the Circus

'There is a growing frustration': Top Republican slams Canada's NAFTA negotiating tactics

Trump administration wants a new NAFTA by month's end to meet congressional deadlines

John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2018 3:16 PM ET

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, the number 3 Republican in Congress, says he is increasingly frustrated with Canada's NAFTA negotiating tactics. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)



The third most senior Republican in Congress fired a shot across Canada's bow today, urging Canadian negotiators to either drop some of their hardball tactics or risk being left out of a new NAFTA entirely.

In a statement sent to reporters, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said he and other U.S. lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with Canada's refusal to cede ground on some key sticking points standing in the way of a renegotiated trilateral trade deal, saying Canada alone is to blame for the "continued delay."

Power and Politics

Sarah Goldfeder on latest U.S. NAFTA threats to Canada

00:00 07:15

'Now is the moment for Canada to really come to the table and finish this out,' says the former U.S. diplomat as Chrystia Freeland heads back to Washington. 7:15

"Members are concerned that Canada does not seem to be ready or willing to make the concessions that are necessary for a fair and high-standard agreement. While we would all like to see Canada remain part of this three-country coalition, there is not an unlimited amount of time for it to be part of this new agreement," Scalise said.

Canada has long sought allies in the NAFTA talks among Republican members of Congress, believing support from U.S. lawmakers could be a crucial backstop in the face of the Trump administration's anti-trade impulses.

Asked about the letter ahead of question period Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was not aware of what Scalise had said but insisted again that Canada is negotiating in good faith.

"From the outset of these modernization negotiations, Canada has been extremely co-operative," Freeland said. "Canada is very good at negotiating trade deals. Canada is very good at finding creative compromises."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland speaks to reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons following a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill. Freeland said Canada is negotiating in good faith. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Freeland is headed back to Washington tonight to resume ministerial level negotiations with her U.S. counterpart, Robert Lighthizer.

When pressed on trade deals by his political opponents Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government will not be pressured into signing just any deal.

"We know that only signing good deals for Canadians is in our best interest. As with CPTPP, when it comes to NAFTA, we will sign a good deal or we will not sign," he said, citing the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade agreement Canada reached with 10 other Asian-Pacific countries earlier this year. Legislation to implement that deal is currently before Parliament.

U.S. President Donald Trump also tried to tighten the screws on Canadian negotiators Tuesday by claiming that Canada is "not in a good position" now that the U.S. has a deal with Mexico.

"Canada has taken advantage of our country for a long time. We love Canada. We love it. We love the people of Canada, but they're in a position that's not a good position for Canada. They cannot continue to charge us 300 per cent for dairy products and that's what they're doing," he said, citing tariffs Canada places on some dairy imports to protect local farmers.

Trump has routinely threatened to levy punitive tariffs on Canada's auto exports if a deal cannot be reached.

Tight timeline

U.S. negotiators are gunning for a new NAFTA by month's end to get a text of the agreement to Congress for its mandatory 60-day review period. That would allow the deal to be formally signed before Dec 1., when Mexico's new president, a left-leaning politician, takes office.

Once a deal is reached, the text has to be legally "scrubbed" — redrafted by lawyers, translators and negotiators into a final deal that can take legal effect across the NAFTA zone. That process typically takes longer than a few days, meaning the pressure is on to finalize talks to get Congress an agreement by September 30.

Under U.S. law, while Congress can extend fast track negotiating authority to Trump administration officials — as it has with NAFTA — legislators retain the right to review any proposed trade agreement and decide whether it will be implemented. That relationship is governed by a set of strict, legislated timelines that allow Congress enough time to study a deal before delivering a decision.

"Congress takes seriously and intends to fully enforce the deadlines established in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act (TPA). We will not short-circuit the open, transparent, and accountable process established under TPA to ensure that the full text is available to the public," Scalise said.

• Freeland to return to Washington this week to continue NAFTA talks

• Liberals to face 'louder' criticism at home over NAFTA, Conservatives vow

• Analysis
  These are the steps Trump would have to take to end NAFTA. It won't be easy

The U.S. and Mexico reached a preliminary, bilateral agreement in August, prompting Canada to return to the negotiating table to settle some lingering irritants standing in the way of a final deal. Scalise said the U.S. is ready to push ahead with a bilateral deal with Mexico if Canada can't commit to some compromises.

"Mexico negotiated in good faith and in a timely manner, and if Canada does not cooperate in the negotiations, Congress will have no choice but to consider options about how best to move forward and stand up for American workers," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump gives a speech In West Virginia as Steve Scalise, bottom right, looks on. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

However, despite the pressure from Scalise, a top lieutenant of Trump in Congress, there are questions as to whether the White House could proceed with a Mexico-only deal.

Indeed, forcing a two-party deal on Congress could lead to a legislative headache for Republicans, since the fast track negotiating authority that Congress gave Trump and his administration was a for a trilateral deal, with Canada taking part.

• How Canada's supply management system works

• Trump announces U.S.-Mexico trade deal to replace NAFTA, and says 'we will see' if Canada can join

Canada is particularly concerned about how Chapter 19 in the original NAFTA — the dispute settlement mechanism used to challenge anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases, which Canada has deployed in the past over the softwood lumber file — has been renegotiated by the U.S. and Mexico.

Chapter 19 has been a do-or-die issue for Canada, as it has often relied on the clause to fight punitive duties. Lighthizer has long opposed this chapter as a violation of U.S. sovereignty.

The U.S. has also been pushing for greater access to the Canadian dairy market, a segment of the economy protected by supply management. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to protect Canada's existing agricultural policies.

About the Author

 

John Paul Tasker

Parliamentary Bureau

John Paul (J.P.) Tasker is a reporter in the CBC's Parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He can be reached at john.tasker@cbc.ca.

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