Sending an olive branch to Canada

by Sabrina Rodriguez (feat. Eric Miller)

Politico
June 12, 2018

SENDING AN OLIVE BRANCH TO CANADA: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro might think there’s a “special place in hell” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but other top officials in the Trump administration are taking steps to move past a raucous weekend and show the United States’ closest ally that business as usual is continuing between the two nations.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Friday heads to Canada, where he will meet with his counterpart, Lawrence MacAulay, and sit for a meeting and photo-op designed to showcase the strength of ongoing cooperation between the two countries on agriculture. The trip, which was announced Monday, has been in the planning stages for weeks, a USDA spokesperson noted. But the warm overtures between the two ag leaders stand in stark contrast to the rhetoric from the White House over the weekend.

On trade, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Sunday discussed the ongoing NAFTA renegotiation in a phone call that her office characterized as “productive and cordial.” Freeland's outreach will also continue later this week, when she travels to Washington on Wednesday to meet with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the request of Chairman Bob Corker.

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