SAY GOODBYE TO A NAFTA DEAL? ... WAPO'S DAMIAN PALETTA: "Trudeau says NAFTA talks broke down after Pence made ultimatum": "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said months of intense negotiations between his country, the United States and Mexico imploded Tuesday when Vice President Pence demanded that any deal expire automatically in five years.
"Trudeau said he was prepared to travel to Washington this week to try to finalize a rework of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but Pence, in the phone call, said a meeting would occur only if the 'sunset' provision was agreed to in advance.
"'I had to highlight that there was no possibility of any Canadian prime minister signing a NAFTA deal that included a five-year sunset clause, and obviously the visit didn't happen,' Trudeau said Thursday. ... Trudeau said Thursday that he felt the United States, Mexico and Canada were on the verge of a renegotiated NAFTA that he described as a 'win, win, win' before the talks stalled after the Pence phone call."
https://wapo.st/2J7uOKLTHROWDOWN ... CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU on the tariffs, in a speech yesterday: "Let me be clear: These tariffs are totally unacceptable. For 150 years, Canada has been America's most steadfast ally. Canadians have served alongside Americans in two world wars and in Korea. From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of Afghanistan, we have fought and died together.
"Canadian personnel are serving alongside Americans at this very moment. We are partners in NORAD, NATO, and around the world. We came to America's aid after 9/11 - as Americans have come to our aid in the past. We are fighting together against Daesh in Northern Iraq.
"The numbers are clear: The United States has a $2 billion U.S. dollars surplus in steel trade with Canada - and Canada buys more American steel than any other country in the world, half of U.S. steel exports. Canada is a secure supplier of aluminum and steel to the U.S. defense industry, putting aluminum in American planes and steel in American tanks. That Canada could be considered a national security threat to the United States is inconceivable. ...
"In closing, I want to be very clear about one thing: Americans remain our partners, friends, and allies. This is not about the American people. We have to believe that at some point their common sense will prevail. But we see no sign of that in this action today by the U.S. administration."
CUE THE WEST WING PALACE INTRIGUE: BEN WHITE, ANDREW RESTUCCIA and NANCY COOK: "War inside Trump trade team triggers global angst": "Senior administration officials profess privately to not knowing exactly what Trump will ultimately decide to do on trade at any given moment. The uncertainty has led the president's advisers to compete for his attention in a bid to sway him, leading to nasty behind-the-scenes fights that are increasingly bursting into public view.
"The week began with a statement that the administration would move ahead with trade levies on China, just days after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a trade war with the world's second-largest economy was 'on hold.' Trump's senior trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly rebuked Mnuchin's statement on Wednesday, calling it an 'unfortunate sound bite.'
"One senior administration official said privately this week that Navarro's public scolding of the Treasury secretary was a 'firing-level offense' but held out no hope that Trump would take any action."
https://politi.co/2swjWisJUST SAYING: Typically a White House communications director would help implement a strategy for communicating the administration's position on major policy initiatives. It's been three months since Hope Hicks departed the White House and seemingly no process has been put in place to permanently fill her slot.
-- AND THE REACTION ON THE HILL AIN'T SO GREAT EITHER ... BURGESS EVERETT: "Republicans gobsmacked by Trump's tariffs: GOP lawmakers thought the president was going to hit China — not key U.S. allies": "Republicans are bitterly protesting the Trump administration's decision to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. allies — alarmed that the White House ignored their frenzied lobbying campaign and afraid that the party could suffer at the polls in November. ... Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) called it 'bad news' and predicted imminent retaliation from the key U.S. allies.
"Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said there is 'mounting evidence that these tariffs will harm Americans.' And Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) warned that similar policies 90 years ago sparked the Great Depression. 'This is dumb. Europe, Canada, and Mexico are not China, and you don't treat allies the same way you treat opponents,' Sasse said. '"Make America Great Again" shouldn't mean "Make America 1929 Again."'
https://politi.co/2su3lM4ALL OF THIS IS IN ADDITION to the fact that it was looking extraordinarily unlikely that Congress would ratify a new NAFTA this year anyway.
SAY GOODBYE TO A NAFTA DEAL? ... WAPO'S DAMIAN PAL... (