Canada’s Official Opposition Conservatives are blaming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for getting sidelined in the NAFTA talks.
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced a bilateral deal with Mexico after weeks of negotiations that did not include Canada. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer tweeted his condemnation of Trudeau Monday:
Thanks to Justin Trudeau, Canada is on the outside looking in while Canadian jobs hang in the balance. His economic failures have ruined Canada’s bargaining position and jeopardized thousands of jobs. https://t.co/8TAa5kNQca
— Andrew Scheer (@AndrewScheer) August 27, 2018
Global News reports that Trudeau made an emergency call to Trump Monday, as the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying the two leaders plan to meet to discuss NAFTA “with a view to successful conclusion of the negotiations.” (RELATED: Trump Cutting Canada Out Of NAFTA Talks ‘Right Now’)
Conservative Party critics are accusing the Liberal government of getting the shaft from Trump because of Trudeau’s insistence that trade deals be linked with the prime minister’s political agenda of climate change, gender equality and labor rights. Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Erin O’Toole said that agenda has “failed to advance Canada’s trade interests.”
O’Toole wrote: “For years, Conservatives have asked for a more serious approach from the Trudeau government on NAFTA, but the Liberals have preferred domestic political posturing over advancing our economic interests,” it read. “I am troubled that despite the fact that NAFTA grew out of the Canada-US free trade agreement, Mexico appears to have usurped our role as the key US trade partner.”