Posted on 04/21/2020 3:43:01 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
... After discussions with each country’s trade ministers, the leaders were under the impression that all that was left was to shake hands and smile for the cameras. For Vietnam, which was hosting the conference, the new deal was set to be a major diplomatic coup.
The leaders noticed that Abe and Trudeau were late for the meeting and some murmuring broke out. Abe soon came striding into the meeting looking “very flustered,” according to Turnbull.
When Turnbull asked him what was going on, Abe said, “Justin won’t sign. He’s pulling out.”
Asked if Trudeau was trying to scuttle the deal, Abe said he thought so.
“I was extremely disappointed with Justin and felt really bad for Shinzo Abe. He’d put so much into the TPP-11 and this was a very public humiliation. Likewise for Prime Minister (Nguyen Xuan) Phuc of Vietnam. He had dozens of cameras waiting to record the historic moment, and then it hadn’t happened,” wrote Turnbull.
Even more annoying for the other leaders was they felt they had “bent over backwards” for Canada during the negotiations, allowing for the clunky new name requested by the Canadian delegation, among other things ...
Nieto told Turnbull that Trudeau had “lacked the strength to say ‘no’ months ago and now lacked the strength to say ‘yes’.” ...
A Canadian trade representative was due the next day and Abe hoped that Canada “might have a sense of guilt about their behaviour.” A Japanese negotiator presented the Canadians with two draft press releases about the deal, one excluding Canada and one including Canada and said “right now, we are pretty indifferent as to which one we issue.”
Less than a week later, Trudeau told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Canada was back in TPP-11 ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
When Justin Trudeau first campaigned as PM, people said he was a lightweight.
Since then, Justin has done everything he can to prove them right.
And Canadians re-elected him
Yet Trudeau’s decision not to sign is consistent with Canada’s national interest. With Trump and the US opposed to the TTP, Trudeau would have been a fool to sign and antagonize Canada’s largest trade partner.
Abe Lincoln was there? No way!
Americans elected lightwieghts from 1988-2012.
I’m no fan of Trudeau, but events that unfolded since 2017 suggest that this was an incorrect assumption.
Regardless of whether or not he was concerned about offending Trump, Trudeau was in a position where he had to be careful about negotiating a new trade deal with these Pacific Rim countries while so much uncertainty was looming with NAFTA. In fact, Canada’s trade deals with countries outside of NAFTA was a major point of contention for the Trump administration ... to the point where the new USMCA deal includes a provision that allows one country to cancel the deal if another country signs a separate trade deal with an outside country that engages in unfair trade practices.
Socks haha. Classic.
Always a “former” liberal politician or employee that is quoted.
Made up news is still just fake news.
Looking at PM Trudeau, the Vietnamese trade minister grumbled under his breath, “…and they call me a Phuc.”
“Justin won’t sign. He’s pulling out.”
It’s the French in him.
IOW, Trudeau's incompetent and unfit for office, but somehow the media spin is, it's Trump's fault.
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