CANADA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “After months of tension and insults in their trade war, President Donald Trump tried out a new role with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: peacemaker. Several sources familiar with a Monday {10-1-18] call between the two leaders described the president dominating the conversation with an almost uninterrupted burst of enthusiasm, speaking for the vast majority of a 15-minute call about how amazing, how perfect things would be now.’It was extremely positive,’ said one Canadian official. Other witnesses described the prime minister struggling to squeeze some words in, amid the president’s extended peace declaration. The themes of that big, beautiful call across the northern border have emerged in public view, with Trump suddenly describing the countries as a regional trading block, ready to take on the world together. What a difference a week makes. With a historic trade deal in hand, Trump and Trudeau are looking for a bigger reset after U.S.-Canada relations had sunk to their lowest level in decades. U.S. and Canadian officials are starting to consider a post-NAFTA agenda, with possible projects near and far: space cooperation, global trade reform, border modernization and regulatory streamlining.”
–Alexander Panetta, “Behind the scenes with Trump and Trudeau: How they made nice,” Politico, October 3, 2018 7:18 pm