How to Deal with Trump? Canadian Chamber of Commerce CEO Weighs In
Prince George, B.C. – It’s a question that’s been on nearly everyone’s mind since his election in November and it was a topic of discussion today at the Business Development Forum at the Ramada Hotel – how to deal with the Donald Trump administration?
“It’s a government unlike any that we’ve seen in most of our lifetimes,” said Perrin Beatty, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “It will be important for Canada to focus on the importance of the relationship.”
He said the partnership is huge for Canada noting about 70 per cent of our trade is with our southern neighbours.
“And that will continue into the foreseeable future so we need to focus on what are the areas we have in common and how do we consolidate and build on that.”
Beatty acknowledged fears over the lack of a Softwood Lumber agreement between the two countries but warned there’s also a lot of uncertainty in other areas of the economy – including over the renegotiation of NAFTA, the collapse of the Trans-Pacific-Partnership, immigration policy and how that affects Canadian businesses and workers wanting to cross the border.
But he also said there are opportunities – such as Trump’s decision to green light the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this month – something the Barack Obama administration opposed.
“We need to come to the table with a sense of confidence because we bring a great deal to the table,” said Beatty. “We have to come with a desire to modernize NAFTA and make improvements in areas but we should also do so without picking unnecessary fights or without getting our hair on fire.”
Beatty, who was secretary of state for external affairs during the short-lived Kim Campbell Conservative government of the early 1990s, is still hopeful a positive working relationship is possible.
“It’s important for us to remember the fact that we were not the target of Mr. Trump’s comments during the campaign and that’s what’s been reinforced by members of the administration since. And within the American public there’s an enormous amount of good will for Canada so we start from a strong position.”
Today’s Business Development Forum is being co-hosted by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce and the BC Chamber of Commerce.
Comments
What an ass, not a target to day but wont be long before he does, just takes the wrong words or criticize his policy’s or god forbid him personally. Beatty just sings the song he’s paid to sing, spineless dribble.
Trudeau insults Trump at every chance he gets. Now how do you think trade will go
I think you are wrong. Tru-dough has been very careful when answering questions about tRump.
True Dat! He’s gonna be walking on eggshells around Trump for a while yet! LOL
Every chance he gets… okay..give us some examples…
As Canadians we have principles its what my father, grandfather and brothers all fought for. Comes a time when you have to stand your ground and not turn a blind eye to oppression, intermediation or plain bullying. See what happens in the coming weeks,
What oppression, intermediation or plain bulling?
Well said Millman55, and I completely agree!
Be interesting to see how quickly Canadians turn completely blind eyes towards “oppression, intermediation, or plain bullying” and those ‘principles’ others fought for if Trump tariffed our exports out of US markets and widespread unemployment followed.
My guess is there’d be a great divide develop in this country almost instantly. With one side wanting to join the USA politically to get those markets back and protected forever, and the other side working feverishly trying to convince everyone that being ‘Cuba north’ would really be wonderful!
If you think Trudeau stands up to anyone you have to have your head examined. Trudeau is spineless and will fold to Trump. If Trump will even see him.
Well said Ryder, I completely agree
We will show them, we deserve everything we are going to get for being so arrogant and pompous
From Rec Murphy
htt p://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/full-comment/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/rex-murphy-justin-trudeau-the-boy-scout-must-settle-into-donald-trumps-world
Any opportunities that the Americans under Trump can see that would relocate jobs in the USA at the expense of Canada, they will take. Trump has to create employment in the USA for his base, and he will do so, because he can.
As an example the pipe manufacturing for the Keystone Pipeline will (according to Trump) all be manufactured in the USA. This will cost us some Canadian jobs.
There will be no quick agreement on the Softwood Lumber Agreement and this to will produce jobs in the USA while costing us jobs in Canada.
All is not lost however, because this will give us an opportunity to negotiate new trade agreements with other countries, and locate new industry in Canada.
donald kim jong trump.a dictator in the making.
Agreed!
He made the media and establishment look like the elitist fools they are. The media is still trying to play catchup. Trump is enacting his election promises at a mercurial rate of which the leftist media have never seen before and can’t keep up.
Do you think that for 1 millisecond, the opinions of Perrin Beatty mean anything to Donald Trump
The democrats in the states are being really dumb right now. They have no real power as they lost the presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate… but they can refuse to allow a quorum to approve the nominations of Trumps cabinet and Supreme Court pick; and they are going for it.
Problem is the US financial markets are a house of cards after 8 years of ‘quantitative easing’ or money printing from the US Fed. Even Alan Greenspan says we are due for a complete economic collapse like nothing in his lifetime. Trump knows this, its why he ran for president.
Most on the left laughed at the prospects for Trump success, because they hope the financial collapse happens on his watch and then they will spin it on Trump. But Trump is a negotiator and he has them right where he wants them. Trump knows a good negotiations starts off with something no one wants to hear, the absolute worst, and then any deal in the end looks favorable to the negotiator for negating such horrible outcomes.
By not allowing a quorum in the Senate hearings to avoid a vote on Trumps picks for AG, Secretary of State, and other economic related posts… they undermine the Trump agenda and create uncertainty that in a week or two will risk the whole economy… if it triggers the fragile economy to burst its ponzi bubble then who does everyone think will get the blame?
Of course the Democrats will take the blame for using petty politics of hate to derail the economy by denying the president his cabinet… Trump will then manage the crash as the extreme negotiating position and having avoided the blame for the crash will be in a strong position to get what ever he wants from his majority congress.
The next few weeks will be extremely dangerous for investors IMO.
Trump’s companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six (6) times, just watch him bankrupt an entire country!
Trump currently has over 500 companies. So 6 have filed for chapter 11. Still not a bad record for an entrepreneur. He almost lost it all in the late 80’s with his casino investments, and yet made it all back again in new ways… something very few have ever done.
What you are talking BH is just petty smear politics of little value other than to label yourself as someone that is not a serious debater.
An exclusive USA TODAY analysis of legal filings across the United States finds that Donald Trump and his businesses have been involved in at least 3,500 legal actions in federal and state courts during the past three decades. Nice way of doing business!
Wonder if dear leader is in his quiet room playing with his play dough?
Trade agreements with Canada may make out okay mainly because of pay equity. It is Mexico that should be worried with millions of jobs that left the US because of the much lower wages in Mexico. The US middle class was decimated because of that.
Canada also has the rule of law and reciprocity, which America and Trump greatly respects. As soon as Trudeau tries to lecture Trump with fake news on Trumps policy in America it could all unravel.
Maybe JT should compliment him with fake news.
“Hey Don, I hear you had a million and half people at your inauguration.”
“Hey Don, I hear 3-5 million people voted illegally and not one of them voted for you”.
“Hey Don, your freakin’ hands are huge.”
“Hey Don, Obama started ISIS, the Bush Jr administration had nothing to do with it.”
I don’t think Trump would respect him. Trump has said he has no respect for sycophants, and in fact respects them less then the critics that lie about him. That is why he picked a cabinet of rivals that have their own power centers and will be counted on to bring him a broad spectrum of options.
He has the billionaires like him in his cabinet, major players in private sector industry, politicos like Bannon and Conaway and Prebius… all fighting for their own angle of influence with Trump.
Trump said recently in his speech with PM May of Great Britain that he can usually tell if he likes or trusts a person only once he has meet them in person. He said often he meets people he thought he might like and it turns out he can’t stand them, and other times he meets people that were his harshest critics and he comes out liking them because they argue from principled beliefs and not political rhetoric.
The key to Trump is to be prepared to argue hard for the best interests of those you represent and let him know who you represent and the reasoning behind your argument (most of his cabinet picks are at odds with him in their Senate confirmation hearings whether it be on the issue of Russia, torture, or any number of other issues), but always make your arguments in private and don’t make petty politics for show. Trump despises politico types that politicize issues for partisan gain.
This nonsense of the left on Trumps immigration ban is very dangerous politics. Essentially inciting violence with false news.
Facts are the seven countries picked for a review of immigration vetting policy were picked by joint committees of the Congress under the Obama Administration… the whole temporary ban and immigration review was voted on by both houses and signed by Obama into law… but only after it was fully vetted by the division of government that vets laws for their constitutionality.
This was a law brought in under Obama, but never enforced because Obama instructed his administration not to enforce the law. All Trump did was sign an Executive Order for his administration to comply with the law as was on the books from the Obama administration.
The reason Trump signed this Executive Order for his administration to comply with the extreme vetting of immigrants and visitors from these countries is because those countries are either failed states without control of their populations for proper vetting, they are declared enemies of America, and they have a history of violent extremism. I would have included Ukraine, Congo, Saudi, and the Gulf States as well for their relations to isis and fascist extermists.
America is on the cusp of taking Mosul from isis (with in the next few weeks), and the great fear is that when Mosul falls the terrorists will be blending in with the refugee population to make their escape to the west.
It is well documented that the Obama administration destabilized most of the Middle East with his policies and gave comfort and military aid to the terrorists. It is also true that people that have affinity for the isis types within his administration could have allowed fifth column attackers to get visas to America in the last days of his administration and these visa’s would be valid for up to three months.
By Trump implementing the extreme vetting now he protects America from fleeing isis foot soldiers, and potential Obama fifth column agent provocateurs, that could cause trouble for the Trump administration making him look weak and unable to protect the homeland.
The irony is that Canada already has the extreme vetting in place to process our immigrants. Calling the Americans racist for implementing similar processes in their vetting procedures makes Canadian politicians petty hypocrites.
The danger for Canada is when we have ndp types like Jenny Kwan calling Trump a racist and demanding we review our relations with America rebuking them for their policies. She is using hyperbole and fake alternate suppositions to make a case of petty politics and hate enabling dog whistles from a point of confrontation that will have no good outcomes.
The left is destroying itself with its mental detachment from reality and that is not good for anyone. It will widen the divide and make policy extremes even greater. The left in America needs to learn how to put America first and debate policy rather than the politics of identity. The left in Canada need to stop taking their marching orders from George Soros and his ilk.
BTW if Trump wishes to expand the countries under review for extreme vetting he can not do so on his own. He would have to go back to congress and get them to vote on it and pass the bill on to the executive to be signed into law.
The only reason Trump could sign the Executive order for these seven countries is because they are the only countries so far approved by congress… under the Obama administration.
Sorry Eagleone, but once again your news source bias is showing. What was voted on & passed in 2015 by both parties & the Obama administration was a suspension, to those seven countries listed, of the Visa Waiver Program. Essentially there were 38 countries that were listed as having the temporary visa requirements lifted. After the Paris attacks, passport holders of seven of those countries (the one’s in Trump’s travel ban) were required to go through the normal visa requirements that included a very strict regimen & requirement to temporarily enter the US.
No, the facts are Trump was able to fire the interm AG because she refused to support a law passed by congress in saying his executive order was unconstitutional. Otherwise he had no legal standing to fire her for insubordination to the constitution. The basis of the firing being that his executive order on the immigration hold was just implementing a law already on the books and fully vetted for its constitutionality by the government agency responsible for vetting the constitutionality of the law at the time it was passed by congress and signed by Obama.
No, Yates was fired because she refused to back an executive order that she found unconstitutional. The law you keep referring to was passed both by Congress & approved by Obama had nothing in it that banned Muslim’s as a religion or people, it reversed the visa waiver program so those who came from or showed on their passports that they had travelled to those 7 countries were subjected to the stricter visa application that could also cause them to be banned from the US, but there never was or intended to be a blanket ban. Why else are so many on both side if the aisle upset & call Trump/Bannon’s order so wrong. Do some research into this, you will find your sources are in error. You should also note that Yates is far from being Democrat, died in the wool Republican.
Eagleone excellent. The critics will not be able to handle your facts without immature personal attacks
Eagleone, we get that you and seamutt are huge Donald Trump supporters, and you will support and defend The Donald’s racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, and bigoted position.
But Eagleone; let there be no mistake, you have gone on record stating this; “Those claiming this is related to a Trump and his policies and those that use white guilt are just as much a part of the culture of hate as the deranged individual that carried out this crime. It does no justice to drum up hate of Christian white people because some sick guy goes on a killing spree.”
Why earth would you equate Christianity with “white people”??? ALL races, from ALL ethnic backgrounds are Christian, why do you assume Christianity is a white religion? From this we know your mind and we know your thoughts… and they are “ugly”!
Apologies; last paragraph; why “on” earth would you equate Christianity with “white people”???
Because you have no concept of context?
Keep ranting your MSM hatred, it looks good on you. Do you actually think you have a “smoking gun” this time? For shame, you actually just misunderstood what you read through the red.
Quick quiz – who said this quote?
“All Americans, not only in the states most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants; the public services they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens.”
Give you a hint… his initials were not DJT
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