Threat to exclude Canada from U.S.-Mexico trade deal may not be legal: experts
OTTAWA — Donald Trump’s administration is giving Canada until Friday to sign onto a bilateral trade deal between the U.S. and Mexico or be treated as “a real outsider” against whom punishing tariffs on autos will be imposed.
But trade experts are dismissing the take-it-or-leave-it threat as political theatre aimed at pressuring Canada to acquiesce, with some even questioning whether the president has the legal authority to pursue a deal that doesn’t include Canada.
And even if he does, some doubt Congress would accept an agreement that excludes the United States’ largest trading partner.
At issue is the trade promotion authority Congress has granted Trump to fast-track renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. That authority was for a trilateral deal involving all three NAFTA partners, not a bilateral pact between just two of them.