NAFTA's Deal of the Century : Divide and Conquer

"We’ll start negotiating with Canada relatively soon, they want to negotiate very badly. But one way or the other, we have a deal with Canada. It will either be a tariff on cars, or it will be a negotiated deal; and frankly a tariff on cars is a much easier way to go, but perhaps the other would be much better for Canada."
"We’re looking to help our neighbours. If we can help our neighbours, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. So, we’ll start that negotiation imminently."
"Deal with Mexico is coming along nicely. Autoworkers and farmers must be taken care of or there will be no deal. New President of Mexico has been an absolute gentleman. Canada must wait."
U.S. President Donald J. Trump

"Canada is very encouraged by the optimism we have heard from our partners Mexico and the United States. I've been talking to representatives of those countries a lot this week."
"They seem encouraged and optimistic about the progress they've been making in resolving their bilateral issues."
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland

"It was a rich, fun, important negotiation, from which everything emerged in a very satisfactory way for all involved."  [Done Deal!]
Jesus Seade, envoy, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador 

"I've made it very clear. I support supply management and I don't believe that that is a situation we need to be in [putting it on the table for a NAFTA deal]. The Conservative government in the past, when the free trade agreement was originally signed with the United States, was to preserve and protect NAFTA. And I think some of the things that are lost in this conversation is the vast myriad of support systems that the U.S. has for their own producers. That's not part of this conversation."
"So everything from floor prices to their own quota system, in many, many states, as well as the U.S. farm bill."
Leader of the Opposition Conservative Party of Canada, Andrew Scheer

"Canada has a little bit of negotiating power, but not a lot of negotiating power. Canada would have to accept most of what the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to, which, in my opinion, is not bad — not bad at all."
"There are some other issues that are a major irritant, the most important of which is the dairy sector and I think Canada would have to give some ground on that..."
James Brander, NAFTA expert, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Running scared? Not the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau! He thought he could stick-handle Trump, but somehow his ego got in the way and after the G-7 conference he couldn't resist the urge to maintain that Canada wouldn't be pushed around. Trump is practised at pushing and he is in a position to get results. Canadian trade experts and journalistic commentators months back predicted the U.S. had nothing against Canada in the trade deal; Trump's ire was targeted directly at Mexico for the trade imbalance that so irritated him.

And Canada nobly let it be known that though they could swiftly come to an agreement with the U.S. bilaterally, they wouldn't think of it. Abandon Mexico? Not bloody likely, there's honour involved and this government is nothing if not honourable -- according to its version of what constitutes honour. Don't ask. And then somehow the tables were turned, and Canada's negotiators were invited out of the meeting and suddenly it wasn't Canada conferring with the U.S. and bringing Mexico along, it was Mexico bargaining with the U.S. and Canada outside, waiting to be allowed back in.

Oops, sorry about that. Prime Minister Trudeau knows how vital Quebec is to his future prospects of re-election in 2019 and has made no secret of his commitment to the number one trade irritant for the irascible, determined Trump who has no interest whatever in trade facts, only his own outcomes in making the deal one he can brag about; the bully and the beggars. Trudeau infuriated Trump by his declaration of resolution, and Freeland offended Trump's chief negotiator by going 'behind his back'. Guess they didn't have time to read the seminal instruction in How to Make Friends and Influence People.

How's this for deflating the Canadian ego as exemplified by Trudeau & Company? (We can stick Conservative leader Scheer in there as well) "We’re starting negotiations with Canada pretty much immediately." The Canadian economy, he added is "a smaller segment, Mexico is a very large trading partner." Take that! Or lump it, your preference, Canajuns!
"They used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement. We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA", he added for good measure.

Wait, Canada's turn to tune in to NAFTA! And Canada, as usual is prepared to "punch above its weight".