MOR Canuck pundit blames Liberals for NAFTA talks impasse

The NAFTA renegotiation between the Excited States of America and the Dominion of Canada (yes, that's its proper title) is not going well. The Canuck Minister of Global/Foreign/External Affairs (or whatever it's called today) appeared at her country's embassy in Washington yesterday to indicate through body language if not unequivocal words that things are, errr, stalled.

Andrew Coyne, a middle-of-the-road-hugging columnist for Canada's somewhat National Post, had something to say about the NAFTA talks and who's responsible for the Mexican standoff (pun intended), in "The Trudeau Liberals fall to earth...". Here's the relevant excerpt:

And then there's the Liberals' trade agenda. In one arena after another — China, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and especially the NAFTA renegotiations — the Liberals appear to have genuinely believed they could impose their own bleeding-edge social-justice agenda on that of their negotiating partners, transforming blueprints for managing international commercial relations — difficult enough at the best of times — into sweeping progressive manifestos. Each time they were rebuffed but without apparently learning any lessons in the process.

NAFTA may yet be salvaged, but if so it will not be for any of the Liberals' doing. It's probably too strong to blame the perilous state of the talks on the failings of Liberal negotiating strategy — Donald Trump is simply not a rational actor — but it's equally hard to see how they have helped, from their intransigence on issues that ought to have been bargaining chips, like supply management, to getting visibly outhustled by the Mexicans.

Further reading:
"Trump Hits Canada Over Trade Talks: U.S. Shouldn’t Have to 'Buy' Allies with 'Bad' Deals", Breitbart News, 1/9/18.
"Payback for the Lady in Red - Trump set to stick it to Canada", WWW 28/8/18.

Footnote: Agent 3 saw video of Ms Freeland's presser on the CBC, which runs Freeland clips at every opportunity, and claims she was not wearing a bra. Walt asks, hasn't No. 3 heard of the legal maxim "De minimis non curat lex?" WTF is wrong with you, 3?!