Canadian Prime Minister Tells the US to Scrap “America First”

The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, is very worried these days.  The concern is palpable starting at our very northern border all the way up to the Arctic Circle.  President Trump has been busy with many things on the Swamp Front, but not too busy to be thinking constantly about how to save America from its own wasteful and disrespectful government.  The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been one of his administration’s many focuses and this has put the fear of God into the leaders of both Canada and Mexico.

Trudeau set a precedent today by visiting the United States (not for medical care, as thousands of Canadians do every year) but to lecture the nation’s governors on the backward and damaging policies of the new administration.  The Canadian leader is extremely anxious that the president will actually be good for his word, something that other world leaders are really not used to, especially over the last few years with the United States.

The Prime Minister is learning the hard way that President Trump means what he says, and says what he means.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told governors from across the US to ditch the “America First” motto.

His National Governors’ Association speech in Rhode Island on Friday was a first for a Canadian prime minister.  In his speech, Mr Trudeau urged US governors to embrace their neighbour to the north and avoid protectionism.

It is all a part of his aggressive strategy to promote a “thinner border” ahead of vital trade talks with the US renegotiating the Nafta treaty.

President Donald Trump has made “America First” his mantra, shaping his policies on trade and immigration.  But Mr Trudeau, who is a fierce advocate of free trade, told the governors protectionist policies “kill growth”.

“And that hurts the very workers these measures are nominally intended to protect. Once we travel down that road, it can quickly become a cycle of tit-for-tat, a race to the bottom, where all sides lose,” Mr Trudeau said.  “If anything, we would like a thinner border, not a thicker one.”

A “thinner border?”  Like in Europe?  Or perhaps one of the thinnest borders in North America between Mexico and California?  This coming from a man who, like any good career Leftist, decided that anyone should be able to come into his country at any time for any reason and that, vetting of refugees is for chumps…like Americans.  Some of the most dangerous terror suspects have been nabbed at our northern border, attempting to gain entry into the United States.  Many of these people are not caught and enter rather routinely and freely.  There is a reason why so many of the Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. straddle the border with Canada.

Think on that for a moment or two.

Earlier in the day, Mr Trudeau had talks with governors from Wisconsin, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Iowa.

Nafta is a controversial trade deal between US, Mexico and Canada, which Mr Trump has threatened to rip up because he said it is unfair to the US.

With Nafta renegotiations set to begin in August, Canada must use whatever time is left to convince leaders that bilateral trade between the two countries must be a priority.

At the governors meeting, Mr. Trudeau said “Nafta isn’t perfect” but that states should urge the federal government to fix it, instead of scrapping it all together.

“More trade barriers, more local continent provisions… does not help working families over the long term, nor the mid term.”

All right, sure, Mr. Trudeau, but not a single Trump administration official is talking about trade barriers.  Quite the contrary.  The problem with this type of scare tactic is that Leftists tend to use extreme (and misleading) examples in order to get their point across.  That’s something that we Conservatives are well familiar with, considering that we have been accused of poisoning the air and the water, killing our children, starving the elderly, stealing their pensions, etc., etc., etc.

So, before we can begin discussing the NAFTA trade agreement in earnest, we must first drop all pretenses and put our cards on the table.  No more lies, half-truths, alternate facts or fake news.  We need a real honest discussion about trade and that won’t happen by casting dispersions and using diversions.

Source:  BBC News