CANADA/NAFTA/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the US decision to slap tariffs against Canada on national security grounds was ‘absurd’ and that her country was moving forward ‘more in sorrow than in anger’ with retaliatory tariffs…Freeland was in Washington on a trip planned long before the relations between the two allies veered wildly and unexpectedly off course after President Donald Trump attacked Trudeau last weekend as ‘very dishonest and weak,’ and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro declared there was ‘a special place in hell’ for the Canadian leader after he announced Ottawa’s decision to apply retaliatory tariffs. Freeland’s visit is part of a broader Canadian effort to underscore the importance of the US-Canada relationship and particularly their trade ties — an effort that began even before Trump took office. Wary of Trump’s rhetoric about NAFTA, Canadian officials at all levels of government have been reaching out to counterparts in statehouses, governors’ offices, business and the tech community, as well as on Capitol Hill, to stress the importance of the trading relationship.”
-Nicole Gaouette and Paula Newton, “Canadian foreign minister calls Trump tariffs ‘absurd’ and ‘illegal,'” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 13, 2018 6:48 pm