Stephen Harper offers a gloomy take on the state of NAFTA

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-us-mexico-threat-deadline-1.4823219

Canada prepared to play deadline spoiler in NAFTA talks: source

Mexico and U.S. threaten to exclude Canada if no deal reached by Oct. 1

Katie Simpson · CBC News · Posted: Sep 14, 2018 4:00 AM ET

2692 Comments 

Commenting is now closed for this story.

John Smith

Considering everything, it's probably better to walk away from a deal with the Americans and deal elsewhere. Time to cut the cord!

David Amos 

@John Smith Methinks in order for the other two Amigos to reach an agreement in principle they should have displayed some principals and not backroom meetings with Harper N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-white-house-west-wing-1.4731144

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-speaks-nafta-trade-1.4350756

"Donald Trump could well decide to cancel NAFTA, former prime minister Stephen Harper warned Wednesday as he ended his public silence on current events by describing anti-trade sentiment in the U.S. as an intractable, long-term problem with no easy fix.

Harper stepped into the role of political analyst during a panel discussion in Washington, a coincidence of timing that bordered on the surreal: at the very same moment, Harper's successor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was a few blocks away at the White House, discussing the North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. president himself.

Powerful anti-trade forces that predate Trump's presidency are at play in American society and aren't going away anytime soon, said the former Conservative leader, who's known as an ardent free trader.

He recalled being told by the Bush administration when he took office in 2006 that NAFTA would never have won a vote in the U.S. Congress at the time. He described how Barack Obama campaigned against the deal. He believes trade will remain controversial, whether or not Trump cancels NAFTA, which he thinks could happen.

Harper said he is advising companies to start planning for the possibility of a world without NAFTA.

"I believe that it is conceivable. I believe Donald Trump would be willing to take the economic and political risk of that under certain circumstances," Harper said in a panel at the Dentons law firm."

Canada prepared to play deadline spoiler in NAFTA talks: source

Mexico and U.S. threaten to exclude Canada if no deal reached by Oct. 1

Katie Simpson · CBC News · Posted: Sep 14, 2018 4:00 AM ET

A source told CBC News that pressure to meet an Oct. 1 deadline that would satisfy the United States and Mexico "is not a good enough reason," for Canada to be forced into a fast finish in the ongoing NAFTA negotiations. (Judi Bottoni/Associated Press)



In the face of mounting pressure to wrap up NAFTA negotiations by the end of the month, a senior source suggests Canada is comfortable with missing that deadline.

The source who spoke to CBC News on background, due to the sensitivity of the talks, said the external political pressure "is not a good enough reason," for Canada to be forced into a fast finish.

Mexican negotiators are pushing for an agreement to be formally signed by the leaders of all three countries before Dec.1, the day Mexico's new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, takes office.

If outgoing president Enrique Pena Nieto signs the agreement, it will, among other things, give AMLO some domestic political cover for unpopular aspects of the pact.

• Analysis
  Canada's NAFTA stance on culture is all about politics, not policy

• Why Canada and Mexico don't see eye to eye on NAFTA dispute settlement

In order for that Dec. 1 deadline to be met, a series of legal hurdles in the U.S. must be cleared first.
The next step in that process is getting American lawmakers the text of a proposed agreement before Oct. 1, to begin a formal review.

The source said Canada is willing to try to accommodate the timeline, but is prepared to keep talking past the end of this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to morph NAFTA into a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, if Canada is unwilling to sign on to a deal on his terms.
Last month, Trump announced the U.S. and Mexico had reached an agreement in principle.

A bilateral deal?

Trump plans to rename the agreement USM, which stands for United States and Mexico, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Trump reportedly said he would add a 'C' for Canada depending on what happens at the negotiating table.

On Thursday, Mexico's chief NAFTA negotiator, Kenneth Smith Ramos, added his voice to the pressure campaign.

"Mexico stated from the beginning of the negotiation that the ideal scenario is for NAFTA to remain trilateral," Smith Ramos wrote on twitter.

"We hope the U.S. and Canada will conclude their bilateral negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the U.S ... the agreement in principle that we closed with the U.S. is positive for Mexico because it preserves free trade and modernizes our trade agreement ..."

Kenneth Smith Ramos @KenSmithramos

#Mexico stated from the beginning of the negotiation that the ideal scenario is for #NAFTA to remain trilateral. We hope the US and Canada will conclude their bilateral #negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the US...

5:37 PM - Sep 13, 2018

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Despite the threats of leaving Canada behind, there are significant questions about whether NAFTA can even be changed into a bilateral agreement.

U.S. members of congress granted the Trump administration the authority to re-negotiate a trilateral agreement, and it is unclear whether the White House has the power to turn NAFTA into a two-way pact.

Members of congress from both parties have also said they would not support a new NAFTA without Canada's inclusion.

• Mulroney praises 'civilized, modest' leadership of Bush Sr. in contrast to Trump

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to return to Washington sometime next week for more high level negotiations with her U.S. counterparts.

A second source tells CBC News there is still a lot of technical work that negotiators need to grind through, adding talks are "slow."

• Analysis
  Why NAFTA's unloved investor-state dispute chapter may be in trouble

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

 




http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/07/stephen-harper-spotted-leaving-white.html

Monday, 2 July 2018

Stephen Harper spotted leaving the White House's West Wing

When Harper was bagged in the West Wing the CBC comment section went apeshit with Liebrano spindoctors having fun torturing their political opponents.

So in return I decided to stress test a few LIEbrano propaganda stooges within the blizzard of comments. I have spoken with Richard Sharp personally on the phone and he has ignored me ever since so I changed my style and said nothing to him at all. However I have no doubt whatsoever Sharpy read every word of mine that CBC allowed to be posted. I will leave him to wonder if any replies I sent to him were blocked or not.

If one scrolls down the can easily see that the Gord McPherson arsehole decided to inform us all that he knew I was just before another comment section closed so that I could not respond to his attack on my character. Hence I followed the LIEbrano into here and he never dared respond again.

I must said the "Mark Tynthof" is the most interesting of all. How many people post so incredibly detailed comments about Harper before the birds are tweeting in the Maritimes on the Canada Day long weekend if they were not on the LIEbrano payroll?

https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies 




David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @FloryGoncalves and 49 others
A LIEbrano "The day after Canada Day Harper his slinking around Washington meeting with a total lunatic like John Bolton Wow That is as low as a former PM can possibly get"

 http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/07/stephen-harper-spotted-leaving-white.html


#RCMP #CIA #NSA #TrumpRussia #Trudeau #cdnpoli #nbpoli


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-white-house-west-wing-1.4731144




David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @FloryGoncalves and 49 others
Gord McPherson asked "Post Cohen's number I'll call him and use you as a reference" 646-853-0114 Methinks Harper should also say Hey to Mikey Cohen while he is in DC N'esy Pas?

 http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/07/stephen-harper-spotted-leaving-white.html


#RCMP #CIA #NSA #TrumpRussia #Trudeau #cdnpoli #nbpoli


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-white-house-west-wing-1.4731144

Stephen Harper spotted leaving the White House's West Wing

Former prime minister was expected to meet with 2 top Trump advisers

Catharine Tunney · CBC News · Posted: Jul 02, 2018 3:23 PM ET

6157 Comments
 Commenting is now closed for this story.

  
 
Richard Sharp

The day after Canada Day, Harper his slinking around Washington meeting with a total lunatic like John Bolton. Wow. That is as low as a former PM can possibly get.

 
Content disabled.
John Myro

At least Harper never went on 60 Minutes to give a condescending finger wagging lecture to Americans on how to be more aware of their surroundings and how to be more progressive. I'm sure Trump enjoyed that arrogant oh so superior ideology lecture

Mark Tynthof

@John Myro No, instead he bashed Canada in front of American audiences:
"Canada is a Northern European Welfare state in the worst sense of the term and very proud of it." –Stephen Harper

Content disabled.
David Amos 

@Mark Tynthof Methinks he said that in Montreal circa 1997 or so Anyone can Google and cut and paste a politician's words to support a argument. Remember when Harper called Maritimers defeatists? If you had bothered to watch any of my debates in Fundy Royal you would have noticed I enjoyed torturing the lawyer Rob Moore about what his boss said about us. In my humble opinion it is being homeless yet continuing to write original words while suing the Crown and running for public office for the fifth time that separates the men from the boys who post their political opinions in CBC N'esy Pas?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/text-of-harpers-speech/article1131985/



Gord McPherson

A long trip just to get a few pre-orders for a book.

Content disabled.

David Amos 

 @Gord McPherson RE Your "Corrections"

"You lost five elections"

TRUE

"You also have not prevailed in a single "suing more lawyers"

FALSE

"Cohen? Big deal Every hood in Manhattan has called Cohen"

TRUE

Post Cohen's number I'll call him and use you as a reference

IF I DID SO CBC WOULD JUSTIFIABLY BLOCK IT

SO I PROVIDED YOU THE INFO ELSEWHERE AND NO DOUBT YOU KNOW WHERE EH?

Methinks that whereas you claim to know me well the you already have the number anyway but I will lay odds you will never dare to call MIkey or me for that matter N'esy Pas?

Content disabled.
David Amos

@Gord McPherson Go Figure "Content disabled."

  

Gary Carey

So, what happened? Nothing?

Gord McPherson

@Gary Carey

Yup. Pretty much.

Kudlow fell asleep.
He's not well.

David Amos

@Gord McPherson "Post Cohen's number I'll call him and use you as a reference"

646-853-0114

David Amos

@Gord McPherson "Post Cohen's number I'll call him and use you as a reference" 646-853-0114

So did ya call Mikey or not?

   
Tow Hill

It would be preferable if former leaders that lost an election would not act like a shadow government

Tow Hill

Mark Tynthof

@Norman Olson Yet when Harper was Canada's PM he was more concerned with another country.
"Stephen Harper vows loyalty to Israel in speech to Knesset
Speech to Israeli parliament unique for a Canadian prime minister"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-vows-loyalty-to-israel-in-speech-to-knesset-1.2503393

David Amos 

@Tow Hill The former PM's ain't acting and never were. I have no doubt that as "The Donald" picks fights with the world the bankster clients of Chretien, Mulroney and Harper are very concerned about the price of tea in China and whether or not it can be purchased with the Yankee petrodollar that our not so valuable loonie is hooked at the hip to. Harper is a fellow far right wing dude who supports Bibi bigtime. Methinks the "consultants" Stevey Boy and Derek Burney are quite likely the only Canadians Trump and his minions are willing to listen to within the secretive Yankee Whitehouse West Wing about NAFTA or anything else N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Tow Hill Just in case folks thought I was joking about "Harper and Bankers" its easy to check to see that I am not. Just Google it and follow the yellow brick road. so to speak.

I repeat

"Harper and Bankers"

Please Enjoy

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof "Yet when Harper was Canada's PM he was more concerned with another country."

I know you don't care about my work but I repeat somebody should at least cut and paste this into Google

"Harper and Bankers"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-vows-loyalty-to-israel-in-speech-to-knesset-1.2503393

David Amos

@Lou Parks Methinks you are wasting your precious time with the mccaig bot N'esy Pas?

Mark Tynthof

@Tow Hill Harper already left enough of his shadow over Canada:

 -He maintained the lowest economic growth rate since the Great Depression and the lowest job growth rate since WW2
-Appointed senators who campaigned for him at the Senate’s expense
-Led Canada into two recessions: the 2015 one suffered by no other G7 country
-Made the largest military procurement in the history of Canada by an untendered deal with his Chief of Staff Nigel Wright’s partner company (F-35s from Lockheed Martin)
-Saddled Canada with the largest debt in our history
-Charged with Contempt of Parliament, a first-ever among Commonwealth countries
-Ended Canada Post door-to-door mail delivery
-Replaced our money with plastic bills
-Got us kicked off the UN Security Council
-Appointed the largest and most expensive cabinet in history
-Kept the largest and most expensive PMO in history
-Retained the largest security detail and budget in history
-Put the ruling party in charge of election polling stations
-Forced the longest election campaign in modern history
-Eroded our right to vote
-His PMO bribed a sitting senator to avoid being audited
-Spent Canada into eight deficits in a row
-Took away right to vote of 1.4 million Canadians living abroad, including Celine Dion and Wayne Gretzky
-Dumped Hockey Night in Canada
-Appointed more senators than any other PM (tied with Mulroney)
-Cut funding to nuclear plant inspections

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof I repeat cut and paste "Harper and Bankers" into Google

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof Methinks you liberals forgot helping Harper with Bill C51 and getting rid of t the Canadian Wheat Board, or how about ignoring my doings with BHP, Potash and Nexen? Or the Liberals having me barred from parliamentary properties and then Harper having falsely arrested among other things? You left wing dudes forget a lot N'esy Pas?

 

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof Methinks that you should agree its very usual to Google someone's name and discover that no such name exists on the Internet except within my blog N'esy Pas?

Dave laitinen

On who's behalf is he at the White House? He failed Canadians socially and economically. Ah ha, he's got something's in comon with Trump.

 

Mark Tynthof

@Robert Stringer Harper did it even before Trump!
1. Harper contrasted immigrants and refugees with “old stock Canadians.”
2. Harper’s campaign was supported by the alt-right group National Alliance (look up their beliefs), which is also the source of the Conservative Party’s “Strong, Proud, and Free” slogan.
3. Harper called Liberal supporters “Asian immigrants, people who live in ghettos”
4. Harper was leader of the Northern Foundation (look up their beliefs), an alt-right political organization originally founded to support apartheid South Africa.
5. Harper was Reform Party policy chief when many members were from the white supremacist group Heritage Front. Harper had Heritage Front security guards for the party.

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof Methinks many folks still remember when Harper called Maritimers defeatists. If you had bothered to watch any of my debates in Fundy Royal you would have noticed I enjoyed torturing the lawyer Rob Moore about what his boss said about us N'esy Pas?

However I don't exist to political pundits or CBC

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

Jim Dandee

Harper has a degree in economics. Trudeau has credentials in drama. Facts matter. Truth matters.

Mark Tynthof

@Jim Dandee Harper is a failed economist. Trudeau was a French and Math teacher at the private West Point Grey Academy. He has a Bachelor of arts degree in literature from McGill University and a Bachelor of education degree from the University of British Columbia. From 2002 to 2004, he studied Engineering at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, a part of the Université de Montréal. He also started a Master's degree in environmental geography at McGill University, before suspending his program to seek public office.

David Amos

@Jim Dandee "Harper has a degree in economics. Trudeau has credentials in drama. Facts matter. Truth matters"

Methinks you should cut and paste "Harper and Bankers" into Google to do some reading and following the yellow brick road so to speak. Perhaps then you will tell of what you now know to be true and let the political cards fall where they may N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof Methinks I should be amazed but nothing surprises me anymore. You take the time to lecture a person with the same name as the actor "Jim Dandee" about the Prime Minister's education yet you have no time to Google the following words? Yea Right.

Trump Cohen NAFTA FATCA TPP Morneau

Perhaps you should say Hey to Trudeau The Younger or one of his fellow MPs for me sometime soon N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-white-house-west-wing-1.4731144

Stephen Harper spotted leaving the White House's West Wing

Former prime minister was expected to meet with 2 top Trump advisers

Catharine Tunney · CBC News · Posted: Jul 02, 2018 3:23 PM ET 

Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper departs the West Wing of the White House, Monday, July 2, 2018, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Stephen Harper was spotted leaving the West Wing on Monday, but little is known about what the former prime minister said inside the White House.

Harper was expected to meet with Larry Kudlow — the director of the National Economic Council and U.S. President Donald Trump's go-to economic adviser — and John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, according to multiple sources who spoke to CBC News on the condition of anonymity.

An Associated Press photographer snapped a photo of the former Conservative leader leaving the White House, but neither Harper's team nor the U.S. administration has responded to CBC's requests for comment about what happened during Monday's trip to Washington.

Harper did Tweet Monday that he looked forward to meeting with more business and government leaders "to discuss the forces shaping our future," in a plug for his forthcoming book.

Stephen Harper ✔ @stephenharper

Engaging discussions in 5 European capitals last week focused on political disruption & global trends. I look fwd to continuing to meet w/ business & govt leaders to discuss the forces shaping our future in advance of the release of https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/right-here-right-now-politics/9780771038624-item.html … in a few short months!

11:37 AM - Jul 2, 2018

Right Here, Right Now: Politics And Leadership In The Age Of Disruption

In this timely and insightful new book, Stephen J. Harper, Canada''s 22nd Prime Minister, draws on a decade of experience as a G-7 leader to help leaders in business and government understand,...

chapters.indigo.ca

• 681
• 279 people are talking about this

Harper, who now works as a consultant, personally approached the two officials for a meeting, sources told CBC News last week.

The sources said Bolton phoned the Canadian embassy in Washington to make some arrangements ahead of the meeting — a call that caught Canadian officials off guard as they were not expecting such a visit.

CTV News first reported Harper's planned meeting with Bolton in Washington, citing details contained in emails the broadcaster had obtained.

• Harper expected to meet Trump's top economic adviser amid trade tensions

• Analysis
  Trump crashes the Canada Day party: Aaron Wherry

• 'Special place in hell': Trump advisers blast Trudeau for comments at G7 summit

Harper has not shielded away from talking publicly about the Canada-U.S. relationship since leaving office. He has waded into the ongoing NAFTA talks, offering commentary on TV and at conferences.

While he has criticized some of the Liberal government's actions on the trade file, he has defended the merits of NAFTA.

"I can understand why President Trump, why the American people feel they need some better trade relationships," Harper told Fox News last month. "[But] this is the wrong target."

'United' on NAFTA

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she believes Harper's appearance on Fox News was helpful.

"When it comes to prime minister Harper, he is someone we all need to respect as the former prime minister of Canada," she said on Friday.

"One of the things which has been incredibly valuable for Canada throughout the NAFTA negotiations and more recently as the [national security] measures have come into effect has been the incredibly united position that Canadians have demonstrated."

Harper also often meets with international conservative leaders as chair of the International Democrat Union, an alliance of conservative and centre-right parties founded 35 years ago by Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Germany's Helmut Kohl and then-U.S. vice president George Bush Sr., among others.

He's also still active as one of the founders of the Friends of Israel Initiative.

Harper's meeting came as the U.S. and Canada battle it out over trade.

Kudlow, who recently suffered a heart attack but is back on the job, even took to American airwaves after the G7 summit in Charlevoix to attack Trudeau's plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S.

Last month Trump slapped tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports and sought to justify them on national security grounds.

White House responds to Canada's tariffs

 White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says "escalating tariffs against the U.S does nothing to help Canada." 0:35

In response, Canada has imposed $16.6 billion worth of new tariffs on a host of U.S. goods, from whisky to ketchup.

"We've been very nice to Canada for many years and they've taken advantage of that, particularly advantage of our farmers," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Monday.

"Escalating tariffs against the U.S  does nothing to help Canada and it only hurts American workers. The president is working to fix the broken system and he's going to continue pushing for that."

The timeline for renegotiating NAFTA has been kicked further down the line, with Trump suggesting he won't sign a deal until after his country's midterm elections.

About the Author

 

Catharine Tunney

Reporter

Catharine Tunney is a reporter with the CBC's Parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. She previously worked with CBC Radio's The House and CBC Nova Scotia. She can be reached at catharine.tunney@cbc.ca

• Twitter: @cattunneycbc

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-speaks-nafta-trade-1.4350756

Stephen Harper offers a gloomy take on the state of international trade, NAFTA

Harper says giving 2009 bailout to GM only for them to move operations to Mexico 'irritated' him

Alexander Panetta · The Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 11, 2017 7:08 PM ET |

Former prime minister Stephen Harper and former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and a Trump supporter discuss trade at the Dentons law firm in Washington D.C. Wednesday. (CBC)


Donald Trump could well decide to cancel NAFTA, former prime minister Stephen Harper warned Wednesday as he ended his public silence on current events by describing anti-trade sentiment in the U.S. as an intractable, long-term problem with no easy fix.

Harper stepped into the role of political analyst during a panel discussion in Washington, a coincidence of timing that bordered on the surreal: at the very same moment, Harper's successor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was a few blocks away at the White House, discussing the North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. president himself.

Powerful anti-trade forces that predate Trump's presidency are at play in American society and aren't going away anytime soon, said the former Conservative leader, who's known as an ardent free trader.

He recalled being told by the Bush administration when he took office in 2006 that NAFTA would never have won a vote in the U.S. Congress at the time. He described how Barack Obama campaigned against the deal. He believes trade will remain controversial, whether or not Trump cancels NAFTA, which he thinks could happen.

• On NAFTA negotiations, Trudeau says Canada has to be 'ready for anything'

• Amid gloomy signs in Washington, Trudeau keeps up the charm offensive on trade

Harper said he is advising companies to start planning for the possibility of a world without NAFTA.

"I believe that it is conceivable. I believe Donald Trump would be willing to take the economic and political risk of that under certain circumstances," Harper said in a panel at the Dentons law firm.

"I would not want to simply bet that this is just all going to work out. What's driving this are some very powerful political currents that, frankly, nobody — including Mr. Trump — has really figured out how to address, and they're going to keep coming at us."

Free trade frustration

Trudeau, for his part, sounded Wednesday like he was coming around to a similar conclusion.

"I continue to believe in NAFTA; I continue to believe that as a continent working together in complementary ways is better for our citizens and better for economic growth, and allows us to compete on a stronger footing with the global economy," Trudeau told a news conference.

"So saying, we are ready for anything and we will continue to work diligently to protect Canadian interests, to stand up for jobs, and look for opportunities for Canadian business and citizens of all of our friends and neighbour countries to do well."

Harper said he doesn't believe a simple fix to NAFTA, with a few tweaks, will satisfy the unpredictable Trump, who has repeatedly blasted the trade deal as bad for the U.S., and has a political need to show he's achieved important changes: "I just don't know how you get from here to there."

Harper said he understands anti-trade frustration.

He described his own annoyance at spending his 50th birthday signing a bailout package for General Motors Canada, only to see the auto giant later move jobs out of the country.

"I'm not your average assembly-line worker, but even I was irritated by that."

CBC News Ottawa

Stephen Harper on the 2009 auto bailout

 Former prime minister Stephen Harper revisits his regrets, frustrations and irritations with the 2009 auto bailout. 0:49

And while he proudly touts the fact that he signed trade agreements with dozens of countries, he not only sympathizes with people who feel they've been left behind by the modern economy — he agrees with them. Harper said they can't blame Canada, or even Mexico, or possibly even trade deals — but there can be little doubt jobs have moved away, especially to China.

"I've looked at the data," Harper said. "These people do not (just) perceive they have been left behind. They actually have been left behind... It's a reality."

He said he wanted to avoid opining too much on current politics, so he declined to discuss possible solutions to these problems. He also declined an interview request. He offered one piece of advice, albeit in vague terms: He urged other parties to try seeing the issue through the U.S. government's eyes, and finding solutions it can sell.

Another panellist was slightly more optimistic.

No end to NAFTA: Gingrich

Newt Gingrich — a fixture of American politics and friend of the president — suggested Trump doesn't really want to end NAFTA. He said he thinks a deal can eventually be reached, after long and difficult negotiations.

"My hunch is in the end we will get to a reformed NAFTA. We will not get to the end of NAFTA," said the former House speaker and Trump campaign surrogate.

"I don't think there's an appetite for blowing it all up, other than the president's occasional tweets... I think it"ll be a brawl (though)." He suggested the deal might get a new name: "It will probably be something like the Modernized Dramatically Improved 21st Century Trumpized NAFTA."

Gingrich prefaced his remarks by saying the president is unpredictable, so nobody knows for sure.
Harper, meanwhile, also offered opinions on two other international relationships. He said Canada could easily strike a trade agreement with a pro-Brexit British government. He also said that if NAFTA collapses, the Chinese will be ready and willing to make a deal with Canada.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices