The first high-level meeting between Canada and the U.S. since the inauguration of President Trump involve Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland meeting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The talks focussed on trade, CBC News reports, which is unsurprising given Freeland’s background as Canada’s trade negotiator. She warned “Canada definitely will be and is good at taking strong offensive positions”.
To a certain extent these talks were not hugely relevant. President Trump has made it clear Commerce Secretary appointee Wilbur Ross will lead trade talks even though he has several senior trade advisors and negotiators, as discussed in Panjiva research of January 17.
However, these discussions confirm Canada wants to maintain and update NAFTA rather than doing away with it altogether. Putting aside obvious areas such as energy and autos, Panjiva analysis of the U.S. top 50 exports to Canada shows major sensitivities for the U.S. include aerospace, electronic components, telecoms network equipment, computers and pharmaceuticals.

Source: Panjiva




