Article content continued

Fast also accused Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto of “conspiring” to co-ordinate their responses to Trump’s campaign threat to kill the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Details of how the Trump administration would handle controversial free-trade issues were revealed this week in a memo, obtained by CNN, prepared by the Republican’s transition team.

The document outlines how NAFTA talks would begin on Jan. 20, Trump’s first day as U.S. president, to determine whether to scrap the 1994 deal with the U.S., Canada and Mexico or draft changes that would protect “the interests of U.S. workers and companies first.”

Trump maintained throughout his campaign that if drastic changes were not made to NAFTA, his government would pursue a solely domestic trade structure, and pursue bilateral agreements with other countries.

You don’t show your cards before you’re asked to play the cards.

“Donald Trump’s ire was directed to Mexico, not at Canada. So, our focus should have been on protecting our bilateral relationship, which is a robust one,” Fast said. “Behind the scenes it has become very apparent that Canada has been conspiring with Mexico. Quite frankly, again, I think that was a strategic error because our interests at the present time — as they related to NAFTA — are not aligned.”

Trade relations between Canada and the U.S. are not seen as a major issue, given that the two countries have long had integrated supply chains. “Why are we aligning our interests with Mexico at this time? We should be defending the bilateral relationship between our two countries, between Canada and the United States,” Fast said.