The NAFTA phone call between Justin from Canada and U.S. President Trump took place yesterday.

Due to the importance of the timing; and against the backdrop of Trump’s meeting with auto executives; and considering that Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland spent five days in Washington DC last week without an agreement; and understanding no NAFTA talks are taking place this week; it was important to see who called whom in order to understand the import of the phone contact:

President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada to address the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. President Trump underscored the importance of quickly concluding an agreement. (WH – link)

According to Canadian officials, Justin from Canada was the initiator of the call yesterday.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan previously set a deadline date of May 17th, due to the statutory requirements for any agreement, based on this year’s legislative calendar. That’s the day after tomorrow. There is general consensus no agreement prior to that date is possible. Additionally Mexico’s national election is July 1st, 2018.

CANADA – […] A senior source with direct knowledge of the situation said senior Trudeau government officials have had multiple recent phone conversations with figures in the Trump administration to gauge their willingness to send decision makers back to the negotiating table. The source told CBC News federal officials expect to learn in the next 24 hours whether the ministers overseeing the talks will return to Washington at the end of this week to resume negotiations. […] Officials decided to make the push now because they don’t want to look back at this junction in the talks weeks from now and realize more could have been done, the source added. (read more)