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?!

Mysterious meeting between WH bigshots and former Canadian PM

Here's the lead of a story which appeared this afternoon on the CBC News website, headed: "Stephen Harper expected to meet Trump's top economic adviser in Washington amid trade tensions".

Former prime minister Stephen Harper is poised to meet with two top Trump administration officials in Washington against a backdrop of fractious talk over tariffs.... Harper is expected to travel to Washington on Monday, July 2, and has scheduled meetings with Larry Kudlow — the director of the National Economic Council and Trump's go-to economic adviser — and John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, according to multiple sources who spoke to CBC News on the condition of anonymity.

Walt's innocent question: Why do "two top Trump administration officials" suddenly want to talk with Mr Harpoon, who, since his defeat in October of 2015, has been merely a private citizen of Canuckistan? Could it be that the Americans have had enough of Just In Trudeau and his angry little woman sidekick Chrystia Freeland? Have they let it be known that if Canada wants to bug out of the upcoming trade war and salvage some kind of free trade deal with the US of A, they need to send someone to the table who can talk common sense, not gender ideology/global warming/"fair trade" nonsense?

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "Ehhhhh... could be!" Stay tuned.

Canuck foreign minister Freeland skips 5th round of NAFTA talks

Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Minister of Global Affairs [sic] is a shining example [horrible example, surely! Ed.] of the Peter Principle in action. Dr Laurence J. Peter wrote that in any organization, especially a bureaucracy, people get promoted to the level of their incompetence. Or, in the case of Ms Freeland, beyond. She was clearly in over her head as Minister for International Trade, when, only a year ago, she burst into tears and stormed out of a negotiation meant to work out a Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA), crying that "These [Europeans] are impossible! I'm going home to my children!"

Fortunately for the lovely and fragrant Ms Freeland, her boss, Justin "Mr Socks" Trudeau, flew over to Brussels right sharpish and smoothed things over. The agreement, however, remains unratified as of this writing -- just another fancy but meaningless piece of paper.

Having thus demonstrated that throwing a hissy fit is a great negotiating tactic, Ms Freeland was promoted to Global Affairs, to take charge of negotiations with the USA and Mexico to revise the much-flawed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Liberal government which Junior Trudeau leads and of which Ms Freeland is a part wants NAFTA "improved" by the addition of sections designed to... wait for it... respect the rights of indigenous peoples, promote gender equality, and combat the horrors of climate change. Just what you'd expect from a gender-equal cabinet of certified limousine liberals and SJWs. Trouble is, the Americans and the Mexicans have no interest in those things. They just want to find better ways to do business together. So... things are not going well.

The fifth round of talks began in Mexico City this week, but Chrystia Freeland is not there. Neither is American trade representative Robert Lighthizer or Mexican Secretary of the Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal. The official explanation for their absence is that the top negotiators don't need to talk to each other, since they met on the sidelines of last week's APEC summit in Vietnam. A statement from the Canadian Ministry of Propaganda [Ed., please check.] says "Given the substantive discussions held between the ministers at APEC, the ministers agreed not to attend the fifth round so negotiators can continue to make important progress on key chapters advanced in Round 4. The chief negotiators from Mexico, the United States and Canada will be in constant communication with their respective ministers and will report on the progress reached in Round 5."

That's the party line, according to the Canadian Broadcorping Castration. [I checked. Ed.] The CBC says "a source with direct knowledge of the talks told CBC News that the push for political leaders to take a step back from the negotiating table came from Lighthizer." And that is true, according to an insider who spoke "on background" to Agent 3, but not for the reason suggested by the press release.

Walt can reveal, thanks to the inside dope just received, that the real reason is that Mr Lighthizer simply cannot stand the lovely and fragrant Chrystia Freeland. He doesn't want her at the negotiating table, or even in the same room! Not even in the same hotel! So word was sent to Ottawa that if she goes, he won't. To save face, the diplomats concocted the story that the non-meeting is by mutual agreement. Dear reader, which version of "the truth" sounds more plausible to you?

Further reading on WWW: "Questioning the CBC's love affair with Chrystia Freeland", WWW 8/10/17, and "Bill Maher calls BS on 'shared values' with Muslims", WWW 18/4/17, which includes a great video of Mr Maher -- no friend of Walt's -- destroying the legal blonde cabinet minister.