TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland postponed her U.N. speech as free trade talks between the U.S. and Canada intensified.
Freeland had been scheduled to deliver Canada’s address to the General Assembly on Saturday in New York, but Canada exchanged the slot with another country. Freeland may or may not give the speech on Monday.
Canada, the United States’ No. 2 trading partner, was left out when the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement last month to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. and Canada are under pressure to reach a deal by Sunday, when the U.S. must make public the full text of the agreement with Mexico.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to go ahead with a revamped NAFTA — with or without Canada. It is unclear, however, whether Trump has authority from Congress to pursue a revamped NAFTA with only Mexico, and some lawmakers say they won’t go along with a deal that leaves out Canada.
Among other things, the negotiators are battling over Canada’s high dairy tariffs. Canada also wants to keep a NAFTA dispute-resolution process that the U.S. wants to jettison.
Relations between the two neighbors have been strained since Trump assailed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-7 meeting in June, calling him “weak” and “dishonest.” Canadian leaders have objected to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security.
