Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks Friday, August 31, 2018 about the Canadian perspective on trade negotiations with the U.S. – Everything about the Canadian position is framed through the prism of politics not economics. Virtue signalling is the primary tactic.
Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland are in a tenuous position, they cannot accept the terms of the U.S-Mexico deal because they cannot afford to drop the protections and carve-outs within their highly controlled and subsidized economy. Canada would have to: drop telecommunications and banking barriers; drop protectionist tariffs on Dairy and agricultural products; and drop subsidies for the lumber and aeronautics industry.

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Well, there’s yet another promise kept.  Candidate/President Trump always said he would deploy the “killers” to renegotiate trade deals:

…‘When it comes to negotiating, “Robert Lighthizer is a vicious son of a bitch.”…

~Gordon Ritchie

Somehow I think this type of criticism will only elevate U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in the eyes of President Trump.
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Last Sunday Representative Darrell Issa was being interviewed by Maria Bartiromo about the testimony of Bruce Ohr when Issa innocuously said that Nellie Ohr was working for Fusion GPS in 2015.  Previous to that statement by Issa the timeline for Nellie Ohr working with Fusion GPS began in April of 2016 (simultaneous to Fusion beginning the contract work for the Clinton Campaign and sub-contracting of Chris Steele).

If the 2015 date was correct, this was a big deal; a VERY BIG deal.  Well, today amid other revelations within an excellent report by Chuck Ross at the Daily Caller, the 2015 date is confirmed:

[…] Republicans pressed Ohr about how his wife, a Russia expert named Nellie Ohr, came to work for Fusion GPS.
Ohr testified that Fusion approached his wife for a job and that she began working for the research firm in late 2015. California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa said Ohr testified that his wife was paid $44,000 by Fusion GPS. As TheDCNF has reported, Ohr did not disclose his wife’s Fusion income on his annual ethics disclosure form.

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Ezra Levant of The Rebel Media discusses the background of Justin from Canada politicizing trade negotiations with President Trump eventually leading to a complete collapse of trade diplomacy.

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Today DOJ Official Bruce Ohr is testifying in a closed-door session to a joint House Oversight and Judiciary Committee.  The republican representatives asking questions were selected by Chairman Bob Goodlatte.  Democrats are relying on staff.
According to Kyle Cheney (Politico) Bruce Ohr has four lawyers with him, personal lawyers and lawyers representing the interests of the DOJ.  Initial indications are Ohr has provided testimony that directly conflicts with Fusion-GPS Glenn Simpson, and prior testimony from witness Lisa Page to the joint committee.

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox News to discuss the U.S-Mexico trade agreement and the unlikely possibility of Canada to join the agreement.  In order for Canada to join the agreement they would need to remove protectionist tariffs (dairy); remove subsidies to several sectors (lumber, aeronautics); and in large measure open their economy to free, fair and reciprocal trade.
Additionally, The Wall Street corporations who have exploited NAFTA for strategic financial advantage are unhappy with the removal of the NAFTA loopholes.

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The corporate-owned, Wall Street-controlled, U.S. media are twisting, contorting, and in many cases hiding the consequential details of the U.S-Mexico trade agreement.
The reason for MSM disinformation campaign is quite simple: the deal helps the U.S. middle-class; helps both U.S. and Mexican workers; begins deconstructing the tentacles of Wall Street economic policy; and highlights a major success story for President Trump and the country in general.  The UniParty, Wall Street and the agenda of their purchased political class are being dismantled…. All of those interests are furious.
While it is still available, watch the 10 minutes of this report (and interview with U.S.T.R. Lighthizer) from 07:00 to 17:00 to get a generally good idea of how significant a day this is.  (prompted, just hit play)
https://youtu.be/Uen12x0jmXA?t=7m
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Earlier today President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Kenyan President Kenyatta and his wife to the White House.  Two videos and transcripts.

♦Oval Office Meeting:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 1:53 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s great to have President Kenyatta of Kenya, and First Lady Kenyatta. Thank you very much for being here. It’s a great honor.
We have a tremendous relationship with Kenya. We have terrorism, a lot of trade, getting bigger and bigger all the time.
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So much good news: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The trade deal between the United States and Mexico will stand even if Canada does not come to an agreement with the Trump administration in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“If for any reason the government of Canada and the United States do not reach an agreement, we already know that there will still be a deal between Mexico and the United States.”
~ Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (link)

Remember those “private meetings” between Jesus Seade and Robert Lighthizer?
It is said: a picture is worth a thousand words.  Cue the audio visual:

The incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador,(AMLO)’s representative is Jesus Seade. The outgoing Mexican President Pena Nieto’s representative is Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo.
Why the joy in Seade and the defeated Guajardo?  The answer is in the details:
One of President Trump’s principal objectives in the renegotiation is to ensure the agreement benefits American workers.  The United States and Mexico have agreed to a Labor chapter that brings labor obligations into the core of the agreement, makes them fully enforceable, and represents the strongest provisions of any trade agreement.

Key Achievement: Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining

The Labor chapter includes an Annex on Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining in Mexico, under which Mexico commits to specific legislative actions to provide for the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

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Promises made, promises kept.  The CTH community is in a unique position to understand exactly what has taken place today as President Donald Trump announces the termination of NAFTA and simultaneously announces a bilateral trade agreement has been made between the U.S. and Mexico.  This is exactly what CTH predicted. Most, not all, but most of the media are absolutely clueless.
In an Oval Office announcement today President Trump put outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on his speaker phone as the press watched in the Oval Office. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo, and the key figure for incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), Jesus Seade was present for the announcement.
CTH will have much more on the details of the trade agreement.  This is the most comprehensive and complex trade agreement in U.S. history.  However, in the interim here’s the full video of the announcement (including nuance).  ENJOY:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 11:09 A.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hello everybody. It’s a big day for trade, a big day for our country. A lot of people thought we’d never get here because we all negotiate tough. We do, and so does Mexico. And this is a tremendous thing.
This has to do — they used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years. And now it’s a really good deal for both countries, and we look very much forward to it.
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