President Barack Obama walks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, June 29, 2016.
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The president says leaders must take anxiety about immigration seriously and counter it “boldly and clearly”.
Obama and Pena Nieto also acknowledged that the benefits of free trade and globalization have not filtered down to average citizens enough. In a speech often interrupted by prolonged applause, he said he understood that some people had genuine concerns about the pace of change.
Trudeau commented at the conclusion of a summit of North America’s leaders’ in the Canadian capital.
Earlier, Trudeau pointed to the North American example of economic integration and warned of the risks of protectionism and nationalism. “That’s done”, Obama said.
Obama was in Canada to join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at a North American leaders summit.
Obama says financial markets have settled down since the historic vote almost a week ago and he credits preparation by central banks, finance ministers and the U.S. Treasury secretary.
The Canadian and Mexican leaders largely echoed Obama’s calls for staying focused on closer economic ties.
Pena Nieto said Mexico supports the TPP “with enthusiasm”, while Obama called it “the right thing to do”.
In a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump said he meant to renegotiate the 1994 accord that unites 530 million consumers and represents more than one-quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
And while not on the official agenda, White House aides said they also expected the three leaders to discuss the financial aftershocks from last week’s Brexit vote, a referendum in which the United Kingdom chose to withdraw from the European Union.
The nominee for the USA presidency, Donald Trump, questions the benefits of free trade, and he has stated that if he wins November’s elections for United States presidency, he will renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
The three leaders also discussed such issues as energy, trade, immigration, and regional and global cooperation.
When a reporter asked the leaders to weigh in on Trump, Obama intervened, suggesting his counterparts should be careful what they say in case Trump ends up winning.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t answer”.
In turn, President Obama gave a little bit of context about populism and the extent the tendency has reached over the years.
But he cautioned that withdrawing from trade deals such as NAFTA, as Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has threatened, “is the wrong medicine for dealing with inequality”.
“If our democracies seem incapable of assuring broad- based growth and opportunity for everyone, then people will push back out of anger or out of fear”, he said. “That’s nativism or xenophobia, or it’s just cynicism”.
However, Peña Nieto promised that the three nations would continue to work together regardless whoever gets this year’s USA presidential election.
Sajjan tells The Canadian Press that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce the exact size of that contribution at next week’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation leaders’ summit in Warsaw, Poland.
The aim is to produce 50 percent of the continent’s overall electricity from “clean energy”, including from solar and wind, nuclear and hydroelectric generation, by 2025.
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The partnership seeks to impose new restrictions on some industries to cut emissions and spur a greener economy on the heels of last year’s Paris climate summit.
