It's Just An Economy

Maybe Justin can run on this:

Canadians will likely enter a fall election with the new North American free trade deal hanging in the balance, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he's not rushing to ratify the pact in the face of U.S. political differences.

The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives began its five-week summer break on Monday without introducing a ratification bill — a scenario Trump and his cabinet worked hard to avoid.

The Democrats want changes to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. They want to change provisions on labour, the environment, patent protection for drugs and enforcement, and have by all accounts been working hard with Trump's trade czar Robert Lighthizer to move forward.

"We recognize that there is a difficult partisan context in Washington right now between the Democrats and the Republicans. We have said from the very beginning that we would keep pace with the American process on ratification of the new NAFTA accords," Trudeau said at an event in Vancouver.

"But we will do that in line with the American process when it picks up again this fall."

Ever-ticking political clocks in both countries mean U.S. lawmakers — with one eye towards Trump's 2020 re-election bid — won't be in a position to take even the most tentative steps forward on the deal before the start of Canada's federal election campaign, which is set to begin by mid-September at the latest.

Canadians head to the polls on Oct. 21.

He can blame that "mean, old" Trump while still expecting him to pressure China to release Canadian nationals.

That should work.