New Brunswickers have been clear about how they want trade negotiations to go with the United States, according to Premier Susan Holt.
“They don’t want our province to make concessions or compromise who we are or the value of what we produce in the face of a deal that isn’t fair or in our best interests,” Holt said Monday.
“We want the best deal for New Brunswickers, not just any deal and certainly not a bad deal.”
The premier spoke to media after a proposed trade deal between Canada and the U.S. collapsed over the weekend.
Holt said a fair deal can’t be negotiated when the other side keeps changing the terms until the last minute.
“And we know that New Brunswickers expect us to stand up for our workers, for our entrepreneurs, for our businesses and our province at this time.”
Heading into the weekend, Holt said the deal on the table was considered encouraging, including reducing tariffs on several strategic sectors such as softwood lumber.
“Unfortunately, the people we were negotiating with weren’t consistent in holding up their end of the bargain and introduced things that crossed a line for New Brunswick and for Canada and turned it into a deal that we absolutely could not support,” she said.
French-language laws and regulations were apparently a sticking point in failed trade negotiations with the United States.
And it was one reason the Canadian negotiators walked away from the table.
Holt said the province was grateful for the prime minister’s stance on that issue.
“There are some things we will never trade away,” she said. “(Bilingualism)’s critical to who we are as New Brunswickers, and not something up for negotiation at a trade table with the president of the United States.”
Holt called the U.S. attack on French was another example of U.S. President Donald Trump attacking Canadian identity and sovereignty.
“There were very clear expressions of that in the conditions that the U.S. offered in trying to control who we could and couldn’t form future trade agreements with,” the premier said.
