Trudeau Gets it Right on North America

[Oscar]

Trudeau Gets it Right on North America

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/carlo-dade ... 41586.html ]

Posted: 06/23/2015 1:14 pm EDT Updated: 06/23/2015 1:59 pm EDT

Justin Trudeau's speech on the importance of North America on Monday echoed most of the current wisdom on Canada's standing in North America -- we're in trouble and the issue needs some serious attention.

This was the consensus in hearings held in parliament a few weeks ago and in a recent Senate report.

It's also a sentiment that is echoed, if not amplified, in private conversations in both Mexico City and Washington, D.C.

Trudeau has been the first leadership candidate to respond to rising unease in Canada about its place in North America and his speech largely got the big issues right.

On one hand, the Americans have had about enough of Canada going on about Keystone. Regardless of Canada's perception of the wrongness of the American position, fact is a decision has been made (or postponed) and Canada's yelling about it will not change minds. In fact, it is doing just the opposite.

The Americans are quick to point out that the U.S.-Canada trade relationship is a US$2 billion a day enterprise and are miffed that it -- and the special access that Canada gets -- are being overlooked and undervalued. [ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2089.htm ]

The fact that President Barack Obama entered office with no particular interest in Canada and open contempt for NAFTA hasn't helped Canada's case in Washington. But rather than responding and adapting to the new reality, it's been "dam the torpedoes and full steam ahead" from Canada. In hindsight, the decision to cut the enhanced Canadian representation initiative in the United States and close six consulates might not have been such a good idea.
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada- ... -1.1181019 ]

So, the idea for a cabinet level committee on the U.S. relationship proposed by Trudeau is good, but in reality it would have to be a committee on North America, which means including Mexico. And Trudeau seemed half way there in his speech.

The fact is that the Americans have less time to focus on the bilateral relationship now and will have even less time once the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) turns North American from a table for three into a table for 12. As much as the U.S. administration may not like NAFTA , it dislikes the idea of, in its view, wasting time doing everything on North America twice. That calculation will only get harder under the TPP.

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