Trudeau embrace of TPP could hurt tough NAFTA talks with Trump: experts
OTTAWA — It was Justin Trudeau’s most Harperesque moment — opting not to go along just to get along with 10 other Pacific Rim nations determined to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Vietnam.
Earlier this week, the prime minister hit the brakes on throwing Canada’s full support behind the proposed “TPP 11,” a salvage of the larger pact that President Donald Trump killed when he withdrew U.S. support earlier this year. Trudeau’s muted enthusiasm for a quick deal triggered the harshest barrage of international criticism he’s ever faced.
Much of the outrage over Canada’s sudden outlier status — a position it frequently occupied under the Stephen Harper Conservatives — emanated from Down Under.
An Australian television station cited sources who said, “the Canadians screwed everybody.” “Justin Trudeau sabotages Trans-Pacific Partnership,” the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper flatly declared in a headline.