Sandwiched – Trudeau Goes to Mar-a-Lago
The picture of the seating assignments speaks so loudly you don’t need to hear a word they are saying.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is sandwiched between Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick and the man who holds the hammer for Canada’s economic future, President-Elect Donald J Trump.
Also pictured to President Trump’s left is his pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and his wife Julia Nesheiwat, the sister of Surgeon General nominee Janette Nesheiwat. Also included in the photo is President Trump’s interior secretary pick, Doug Burgum. Suffice to say, the economic half of the Trump Doctrine purposefully in place.
Corporate media are focusing on President Trump’s prior statements about imposing tariffs on Canada as the narrative to go with the hastily assembled visit by Justin from Canada….
ABC – […] The meeting came after Trump threatened sweeping 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada until both countries stop what he claims is a flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States.
Trudeau told reporters earlier this week after he and Trump spoke on the phone following the tariff threat that they had a “good call.” He added that he looks forward to “lots of great conversations” with Trump. (more)
According to narrative media, stenographers for the status quo, the focus is on President Trump potentially seeking an early renegotiation of the USMCA trade agreement which is scheduled for a revisit in 2026.
However, the same corporate media that always miss the point, because they focus on the smoke and not the fire, is that the original USMCA agreement had almost no structural input from the Canadian side of the trade deal. It would not be Trump motivated to change the agreement; it would be Canada.
During the original construct of the USMCA, Prime Minister Trudeau, following the advice of his friend Barack Obama, refused to seriously entertain the revision to NAFTA. Obama mistakenly believed Nancy Pelosi could protect Canada’s interests and therefore Justin need not worry about it. (literally pictured left)
However, President Trump instructed his trade team to work in close alignment with Mexican President Lopez-Obrador for the terms and details of the USMCA agreement.
The USA and Mexico put the agreement together with almost no input from Canada’s foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland who was supporting Justin by strutting around bolstering her anti-Trump bonafide’s. Team Trump was instructed to ignore Justin and Chrystia’s background nonsense and just continue outlining the details of the agreement with Team AMLO. Which is exactly what they did.
Once the new NAFTA, heretofore called the USMCA, agreement was outlined, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer then informed Justin and Chrystia the USA would sign a bilateral agreement with Mexico; however, if Canada wanted to make it trilateral, they needed to get busy and agree to all the terms.
Justin and Chrystia were caught off-guard. Their allies in congress told them this would not happen. Unfortunately for Canada they were wrongly informed. Lighthizer and Trump were more than happy to sign the agreement with Mexico, without Canada, and then later turn to another bilateral trade agreement with Canada that took out the NAFTA loophole that Justin depended upon exploiting.
Canada was screwed. If they didn’t sign up to the trilateral (North American) USMCA then a bilateral trade deal with Team Trump would be even worse for their interests, with even more details that would restrict U.S-Canada trade terms in favor of the USA.
The outcome? Canada essentially signed on to a bilateral agreement between the USA and Mexico with almost no input on the construct from the Canadian side of the deal. Justin and Chrystia had to pretend they were an influential part of the agreement in order to save political face back home.
That’s the reality of what happened.
What you are witnessing in the Trudeau visit to Mar-a-Lago last night, is long-delayed outcome of that reality.
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