NANAIMO, British Columbia: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a tough line on NAFTA on Friday, repeating that he could walk away if he was not happy with talks to modernize a pact the United States contends needs major changes.
“The negotiations are complex and challenging ... I’ve said many times, we are not going to take any old deal,” Trudeau told a sometimes raucous town hall event in the Pacific province of British Columbia. “Canada is willing to walk away from NAFTA if the United States proposes a bad deal.”
“We will not be pushed around. At the same time we can remain confident about NAFTA,” he said, adding that if Washington walked away from the deal it would be “extremely harmful and disruptive” to both the United States and Canada.
Canada and Mexico are striving to address US demands for NAFTA reform, which they argue threaten the highly integrated North American economy.
On Monday, a senior US trade official rejected proposals for unblocking the negotiations but pledged to seek “breakthroughs,” easing concerns that Washington would soon withdraw from the $1.2 trillion North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trudeau said he did not think US President Donald Trump would pull out of NAFTA, despite slow progress at the talks.
During the town hall event Trudeau was interrupted by hecklers angry that his Liberal government approved a plan by Kinder Morgan Canada to increase the capacity of an oil pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia.
Police removed at least three demonstrators, who complained the risk of a spill was too great to allow the project to continue. Trudeau repeated that the pipeline would be built.
Canada’s PM talks tough on NAFTA, repeats he could walk away
Canada’s PM talks tough on NAFTA, repeats he could walk away
UK police arrest former ambassador Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties
- Former UK ambassador to the US arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
LONDON: British police on Monday arrested Peter Mandelson, a former UK ambassador to the United States, in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said “officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office” at an address in north London.
It did not name Mandelson, in keeping with British police practice, but the suspect in the case has previously been identified as Mandelson.
Police are investigating Mandelson over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.
His arrest comes four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, was arrested on suspicion of a similar offense related to his friendship with Epstein.
Mandelson was fired from his diplomatic post in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. When more details emerged in documents released by the US Justice Department last month, police opened a criminal probe.
