OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally shifted the emphasis in his government’s foreign policy priorities to the United States.
The change is contained in a letter to a key minister setting out her mandate.
Trudeau instructed his new foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland that it is now America first.
Number one on her list of “top priorities” is to “maintain constructive relations with the United States, Canada’s closest ally and most important economic and security partner,” Trudeau wrote.
First on the list of priorities for Stéphane Dion, the departing foreign affairs minister, was to “improve relations with the United States, our closest ally and most important economic and security partner, and strengthen trilateral North American cooperation with the United States and Mexico.”
Now Mexico and the trilateral relationship ranks a clear second.
The shift is not subtle.
Some items on Trudeau’s to-do list for Dion in 2015 are now complete: a long-delayed North American leaders’ summit in Canada, and lifting a visa requirement for Mexicans coming to Canada.
The letter to Freeland setting out her mandate goes into much more detail about Trudeau’s expectations for the Canada-U.S. relationship, all with a view to “maintain constructive relations,” not to improve relations.
The prime minister says he expects Freeland to step up and lead a “whole-of-government approach and strategy” to the Canada-U.S. relationship: “ensuring border security and facilitating the movement of people, goods and services.”
He said Freeland’s efforts should engage provinces and territories on border and regulatory issues; continue to address global security threats; combat terrorism, and “defend our continent, cooperating on energy security and energy infrastructure, and advancing shared action on environmental issues and climate change, including through collaboration on clean technology development and innovation.”
Then Trudeau’s letter instructs Freeland to “strengthen trilateral North American cooperation with the United States and Mexico. This will involve working with the relevant Ministers to enhance North America’s global competitiveness and facilitate trade and commerce within the continent, including with respect to the North American Free Trade Agreement.”
Dion was dumped from the key file early in the New Year as U.S. President Donald Trump was taking power with an avowedly protectionist trade agenda.
Dion agreed Tuesday to accept the prime minister’s offer to become ambassador to the EU and Germany.
The Mexican government is clearly worried the Trudeau government will move to protect its own flanks in the face of Trump’s pledge to renegotiate or tear-up the NAFTA agreement.
When the Liberal cabinet met in Calgary, a Trump advisor tried to ease Canadian concerns it was in Trump’s crosshairs.
And Trudeau’s ambassador to Washington David MacNaughton suggested Canada was trying to avoid being “collateral damage.”
“We will co-operate on trilateral matters, when it’s in our interest, and we’ll be looking to do things that are in our interest bilaterally also. Some of them may be within NAFTA. Some may not be,” said MacNaughton.
On Tuesday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called Trudeau to convey sympathy in the wake of the Quebec City mosque shooting as well as to talk trade.
A brief, and unenlightening PMO readout of the meeting said the two leaders discussed “trade, prosperity, job creation and competitiveness in North America, one of the most successful economic regions in the world. The two leaders looked forward to continuing their regular discussions in this regard.”
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