Will NAFTA survive? Trump Threatens! Trudeau optimistic!

Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,  concluded his visit to Washington, D.C., and is now in Mexico City for his first official visit to Mexico. While in Washington, Prime Minister Trudeau took part in a keynote conversation with Pattie Sellers at the 2017 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. He stressed the importance of gender equality and how women’s empowerment creates economic growth that benefits everyone. The next day, the Prime Minister participated in a roundtable led by WomenOne to discuss solutions to the challenges women and girls face every day globally. The Prime Minister then met with members of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means to discuss the vital trade and economic relationship between Canada and the United States. Prime Minister Trudeau also met with United States President Donald J. Trump. The Prime Minister reiterated Canada’s commitment to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for the benefit of all three partners – Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

“There is no relationship in the world quite like the Canada-U.S. relationship. Canadians and Americans know that we are all better off when we work together to grow the middle class and create prosperity on both sides of the border. Canada will continue to work with the U.S. to modernize NAFTA so that people in Canada, the United States, and Mexico can benefit from good, well-paying jobs and increased opportunities to provide for their families,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

U.S. President Donald Trump raised the possibility of scrapping the North American Free Trade Agreement and pursuing a bilateral trade agreement between Canada and the United States in his meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Oh sure, absolutely,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter whether he could imagine a bilateral deal with Canada instead of the current tripartite agreement that includes Mexico.

“It’s possible we won’t be able to reach a deal with one or the other. But in the meantime we’ll be able to make a deal with one. But I think we have a chance to do something very creative that’s good for Canada, Mexico and the United States.”

Trudeau said he remains optimistic about the NAFTA renegotiations, but that Canada has to be “ready for anything.”

“I think Canadians are aware that the American administration and the president makes decisions that surprise people from time to time,” Trudeau said, “and that is something that we are very much aware of, and very braced for and conscious of.”

At a separate event in Washington on Wednesday, former prime minister Stephen Harper told an audience that he has advised companies to prepare for the possibility that NAFTA will not survive.

“I believe Donald Trump would be willing to take the economic and political risk of that under certain circumstances,” Harper said as part of a panel discussion.