Ottawa urged to launch new charm offensive in U.S. to sell trade deal
(The Star Fashion & Style)

OTTAWA – Canada-U.S. trade observers say the Trudeau government should launch a whole new charm offensive to teach an incoming crop of rookie lawmakers about cross-border economic integration after American mid-term elections gave Democrats’ new powers to control the North American trade deal’s passage. But Canada’s federal government is dismissing concerns about Canada’s ability to close the deal on a new NAFTA, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The Democratic party, which traditionally embraces trade protectionist sentiment, gained the upper hand in the House of Representatives and is set to take control of key committees in charge of deciding how quickly implementation legislation for the USMCA will advance, or stall, through Congress.Subscribe to the Star to support our reporting on U.S. political news -- and what it means for CanadaThe federal Liberal government says it doesn’t plan the kind of all-out full court press of new Democrat legislators that it carried on to woo American support throughout the NAFTA talks.Canada’s ambassador to Washington, David MacNaughton, told Canadian television networks he is “not particularly worried� that Democrats will try to block ratification of the USMCA.Read more:U.S. midterm results could delay new trade deal into 2020, watchers warnOpinion | Susan Delacourt: Justin Trudeau treads carefully on U.S. election dayHow Democrats could help or hurt Trump’s next trade policy moves“They may not be the biggest free-traders in the world but I think they see this agreement is good for Canada, it’s good for the United States,� MacNaughton said on CBC’s Power and Politics.MacNaughton and other Canadian officials said they saw President Donald Trump’s reaction Wednesday to midterm results as a positive signal too.During an extraordinarily acrimonious news conference where Trump slammed the media for not giving him cre ...