Donald Trump

Tuesday July 17, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 17, 2017

Trump administration poised to reveal goals for NAFTA talks

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is expected to release today his negotiating objectives ahead of talks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement next month.

April 20, 2017

The goals for the renegotiation, as well as the Trump administration’s rationale for how these objectives will lead to an agreement beneficial to the U.S., must be published on the USTR website, as required by Congress in accordance with the trade promotion authority granted to the White House for renegotiating a standing agreement like this.

Formal talks to revise NAFTA are expected to start next month. Such objectives must be published 30 days in advance.

The Canadian government is not required to publish its negotiating objectives ahead of the formal talks, expected to start on or shortly after Aug. 17. The location for these talks has not been finalized yet.

While Canada has been consulting formally and informally — an official consultation period expires Tuesday — politicians, officials and negotiators have been talking to affected industries for weeks to prepare Canada’s bargaining positions.

June 2, 2017

They’re expected to continue to do so throughout the process, although Parliament does not require the kind of transparency Congress does.

“The other NAFTA parties — Canada and Mexico … their position has been: the U.S. wanted to re-open this and modernize it. We’re just coming along,” International trade lawyer Dan Ujczo told CBC News last week. “So I think in some ways the U.S. is going to set the agenda.”

“If it comes out really short and sweet with a very narrow set of lists, that’s indicating that they want to get this done as quick as possible,” he said. But if it isn’t a deep dive, Ujczo expects Congress to demand more specifics. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday, July 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, July 7, 2017

Trudeau attends summit marked by widening Trump-Merkel rift

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived today in Hamburg for the G20 Summit, having already staked out firm positions on free trade, migration and climate change that are at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump.

May 24, 2017

All three issues top an ambitious agenda set by the summit’s host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“One shouldn’t expect any easy conversations in Hamburg,” Merkel said in address to the German parliament last week.

“Whoever believes that the world’s problems can be solved by isolationism and protectionism is mistaken,” she added in remarks clearly directed at Trump.

February 13, 2017

Trudeau can’t afford to be so blunt, especially given the interconnectedness of the Canadian and United States economies.

“We do have clear disagreements regarding the United States or from the United States on climate and trade issues among others,” Trudeau told reporters travelling with him this week in Europe.

Even so, Trudeau said the world can still work with the U.S. on prickly issues such as meeting the goals of the Paris climate change agreement, even if the president isn’t on board.

January 11, 2016

“We certainly see from the American people, whether it’s through their state-level actors, their governors or their large municipalities or indeed American businesses, there is still a very clear will to move forward on climate action,” Trudeau said.

University of Toronto professor and G20 research group co-director John Kirton is keeping a close eye on the discussions on climate change.

“Climate change could be a disaster if both sides continue to insist on the somewhat theological issue of the Paris Agreement that was forged in 2015, and from which Donald Trump has just said the United States would withdraw,” Kirton told CBC News.(Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday June 9, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 9, 2017

James Comey says it’s ‘not up to him’ to decide if Trump’s ‘disturbing behaviour’ was obstruction of justice

Former FBI Director James Comey said it was not up to him to determine whether Donald Trump behaviour was obstruction of justice.

April 21, 2017

“I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct,” Mr Comey said during his testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but added that Mr Trump’s behaviour was “concerning…and disturbing”.

Mr Comey, fired on 9 May, detailed in a written statement ahead of his ongoing testimony that Mr Trump said to him during a one-on-one White House dinner: “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

The former FBI Director said his “common sense” said that it made him feel as if Mr Trump was “looking for something in exchange for granting my request to stay in the job” of FBI Director.

June 24, 2016

Mr Comey, a prosecutor himself, said that the determination of obstruction of justice should be left up to the Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who was appointed as an independent counsel in the investigation into the alleged ties between Mr Trump’s campaign team and Russia and the country’s possible interference with the 2016 US election.

The former Director’s comment today, however, may mean that Mr Trump’s possible obstruction of justice or possible collusion with Russian officials is also under the purview of Mr Mueller’s investigation.

Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offence but is a tricky legal issue because it has to do with Mr Trump’s actions rather than his intent or how Mr Trump’s actions made Mr Comey feel.  As a lawyer, Mr Comey is aware of this and likely why he is leaving that determination up to Mr Mueller. (Source: The Independent)

 

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Friday June 9, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 9, 2017

James Comey says it’s ‘not up to him’ to decide if Trump’s ‘disturbing behaviour’ was obstruction of justice

Former FBI Director James Comey said it was not up to him to determine whether Donald Trump behaviour was obstruction of justice.

May 11, 2017

“I don’t think it’s for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct,” Mr Comey said during his testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but added that Mr Trump’s behaviour was “concerning…and disturbing”.

Mr Comey, fired on 9 May, detailed in a written statement ahead of his ongoing testimony that Mr Trump said to him during a one-on-one White House dinner: “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

The former FBI Director said his “common sense” said that it made him feel as if Mr Trump was “looking for something in exchange for granting my request to stay in the job” of FBI Director.

December 17, 2016

Mr Comey, a prosecutor himself, said that the determination of obstruction of justice should be left up to the Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who was appointed as an independent counsel in the investigation into the alleged ties between Mr Trump’s campaign team and Russia and the country’s possible interference with the 2016 US election.

The former Director’s comment today, however, may mean that Mr Trump’s possible obstruction of justice or possible collusion with Russian officials is also under the purview of Mr Mueller’s investigation.

Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offence but is a tricky legal issue because it has to do with Mr Trump’s actions rather than his intent or how Mr Trump’s actions made Mr Comey feel.  As a lawyer, Mr Comey is aware of this and likely why he is leaving that determination up to Mr Mueller. (Source: The Independent)

 

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Wednesday June 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 7, 2017

Canada faces new world order in the face of dramatic change, says Chrystia Freeland

Canada is facing a new world order threatened by climate change, Daesh extremists, Russian aggression and the reality that many Americans want to “shrug off the burden of world leadership,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday.

November 12, 2016

In what was billed as a major speech on Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Freeland sketched out the challenges the country faces today and the role it aspires to play.

She acknowledged the dramatic changes unfolding in Washington under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pulled out of a global climate change pact, assailed NATO alliance for not pulling its fair share and talked up protectionist trade barriers.

While Freeland called the United States the “indispensable nation” in the postwar world order, those times may be coming to an end.

In laying out Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Freeland said that Ottawa will “robustly” support the rules-based international order and its institutions.

February 10, 2017

Those include G7, the G20, APEC, the Commonwealth and La Francophonie, NATO and the UN, she said.

In those forums, Canada will promote Canadian values that include feminism, and the promotion of the rights of women and girls, Freeland said.

Freeland also pledged that the Liberal government will boost investments in the military “to not only redress years of neglect and underfunding, but also to place the Canadian Armed Forces on a new footing—with the equipment, training, resources and consistent, predictable financing.”

October 20, 2016

The third pillar of Canada’s foreign policy will be trade, starting with the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and renewed efforts to diversify trade worldwide,” she said.

Freeland highlighted Canada’s past roles on the world stage, in diplomatic circles and battlefields, from Europe to Korea to Afghanistan.

But the global order is changing in unprecedented ways, she said, with the emergence of the global south and Asia, notably China. That brings the need to integrate these countries into the world’s economic and political system “in a way that is additive, that preserves the best of the old order that preceded their rise, and that addresses the existential threat of climate change,” she said. (Source: Toronto Star)