Donald Trump is not right to say that Canada “cheat” in its application of the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement, according to the associated member of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair Guillaume Lavoie.
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In an interview with LCN on Sunday, the American policy expert refuted the arguments put forward by the president who once again prevailed against Canada.
“Trump’s analysis is special,” he analyzes. Each country has advantages on certain products, for example. It is not true that you can do aluminum in the United States for cheaper than in Canada. The first input to do aluminum is energy. ”
“Trump has a vision that if you have a cheaper product, it’s because you cheat,” he adds. It is a fairly unique vision of international trade, which is not followed by anyone. ”
The two countries therefore take advantage of different provisions of the agreement.
“Is Canada protectionist on certain things?” Yes, on supply management, among other things, he mentions. Culture is a little different. But the United States is protectionist on other things. Each country has its internal issues. “
“From there to say that Canada is a cheater is another wacky statement by President Trump who aims to provoke and destabilize,” he adds. Maybe the best answer here is to stay cold in relation to that and faithful to our agenda. ”
Mr. Lavoie believes that his words must be taken into account by considering the state of mind in which he was when he pronounced them.
“Perhaps the error is to imagine that what the president says today is, somewhere, indicator of what he will think tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he says. Perhaps it is less necessary to make the words of President Trump as the official policy of the United States over long time. ”
See the full interview in the video above.
