The North American Free Trade Agreement needs to be modernized but should not be discarded as President Trump urged as a candidate last year, seven Canadian premiers said this week, traveling to Washington to highlight the importance of access to American markets.

“Interdependence is not a weakness. The trade agreements that we’ve been a part of are about win-win,” said Brian Pallister, premier of Manitoba. “We need to make NAFTA great again.”

The premiers made their pitch in a discussion hosted by the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center less than a month after the Trump administration notified Congress of its intent to start renegotiating the trade pact with Canada and Mexico in August. Mr. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the 1994 trade agreement, claiming last year that “NAFTA’s been a disaster for our country.” The president told reporters last month he was close to withdrawing from the pact altogether before deciding at the last minute to seek to revise it.

The premiers did not discuss an April brouhaha in which the U.S. Commerce Department imposed a 20 percent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber and criticized the Canadian dairy industry. Mr. Trump himself said the moves were part of a new get-tough U.S. attitude on trade, tweeting: “Canada has made business for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin and our border states very difficult. We will not stand for this. Watch!”

But Mr. Pallister criticized the United States for taking advantage of its size to wrest concessions from its trading partners.

“Fundamentally, it’s a question of our belief and understanding of the benefits of rules-based trade,” he said. “The United States is big. I’ve seen the United States bully, I’ve seen the United States hurt industries in Canada with bullying tactics. We all have, we’ve seen other countries do that as well. We’re in a relationship where we need rules.”

Acknowledging that 1994 NAFTA agreement needs updating to account for matters such as telecommunications and intellectual property, the premiers maintained that the trade deal is essential to each of their provinces. New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant noted that the U.S. purchases 90 percent of his province’s exports, and Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said 71 percent of the eastern province’s trade takes place with the U.S.

Most important, Mr. McNeil said, the agreement has produced a better environment for businesses on both sides of the border, who need to know the trade rules to make decisions.

“The biggest thing that NAFTA provides for the private sector is certainty,” he said. “It’s important, as we negotiate, that we do this quickly.”

Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod noted that if NAFTA fails, his province may have to turn to markets in other countries such as China, which he said has shown increasing interest in Northwest Territories. He acknowledged, however, that the U.S. is “still the best market” for his province’s businesses.

Overall, the premiers said they expect the agreement to survive, despite the new U.S. stance, because of the mutual benefits it provides for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

“I don’t believe we will live in a world without NAFTA,” said Dwight Ball, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. “We know that successful trade agreements actually create more wealth and more jobs. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t need to be modernized. We want to get people back doing what they do best, and that is not negotiating — that is working together.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.