Former Envoy Says NAFTA Renegotiations Unlikely

(Peter O’Neil — Citizen News Services)

Too much at stake should Obama reopen accord

President-elect Barack Obama will likely find a way to back off his election campaign promise to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States and France said yesterday.

“Clearly, he has made the threat during the campaign,” Raymond Chrétien said after a speech to the France-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

“But, once in power in January, once apprised of what is at stake here, I doubt very much that he will want to reopen that.”

Mr. Chrétien, nephew of former prime minister Jean Chrétien, seconded the view of a Belgium-based analyst who said earlier this week that a NAFTA renegotiation is unlikely.

Mr. Chrétien and Fredrick Erixon, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said opening up NAFTA will be seen as too risky in Washington because of fears that the U.S. could lose its access to Canadian energy, which is guaranteed under the continental accord.

“I think that when apprised of their dependency on Canada’s imports, not only of oil, but of gas, any president would think twice about reopening NAFTA,” said Mr. Chrétien, who started serving as Canadian ambassador to Washington when the trade deal took effect in 1994.

He noted that Bill Clinton opposed North American free trade before his election in 1992.

He said the Obama administration could perhaps be accommodated through a side letter signed by Canada, the U.S. and Mexico relating to labour and environmental standards. Read more here.