Ivison, NP: If the mood prevailing in the Canadian camp in Washington could be summed up in a sentence, it would be: if you’re not confused, you’re misinformed.
The sense was that a trilateral agreement was closer than it has ever been but that everything could yet unravel. Those closest to the action professed they couldn’t say they were optimistic or pessimistic. As Verheul met with his U.S. counterpart to read the U.S.-Mexico “preliminary agreement in principle”, and Freeland rushed from the airport to meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the feeling was that it was 50:50 odds on whether Canada could be added to the “United States-Mexico Trade Agreement”, or whether Donald Trump might follow through with his threat to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian cars.
Confusion and misinformation reigned in Washington, as Freeland headed off to meet Lighthizer late Tuesday. But this shabby drama is reaching its denouement and in the next day or so, Canada will discover the extent of the shaft.
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