Trump team flags Canadian livestock and lumber as targets in NAFTA reset

Canada’s softwood lumber and livestock producers are being targeted by Donald Trump’s transition team, which is advising the president-elect to extract terms more favourable to the United States in these areas in a renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement. The head of Canada’s largest business group says a transition team memo obtained by CNN suggests Washington is about to embark on an “aggressive, protectionist approach to trade both with Mexico and with Canada.” The memo says on the first day he takes office – Jan. 20, 2017 – he would order the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission to study the ramifications of withdrawing from NAFTA and what would be required legislatively to do so. NAFTA has been in force since 1994. The transition team has zeroed in on two of the most contentious trade issues between Canada and the United States.  The country-of-origin dispute centres on U.S. meat labelling rules that require foreign beef and pork to be sold with stickers detailing its origin. U.S. feedlots and packing plants are also required to keep Canadian livestock and meat separate.