Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined an invitation from the White House to celebrate a new trade agreement between North American countries.
Trudeau, along with President Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, were scheduled to meet on Wednesday, but the Canadian leader will instead conduct online meetings with Cabinet officials as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise.
“The entry-into-force of the new NAFTA is good for Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It will help ensure that North America emerges stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic,” a spokesman for Trudeau said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
“We wish the United States and Mexico well at Wednesday’s meeting. While there were recent discussions about the possible participation of Canada, the Prime Minister will be in Ottawa this week for scheduled cabinet meetings and the long-planned sitting of Parliament,” the statement continued before noting Canada looks forward to working with NAFTA partners to ensure the new agreement is a success.
The Associated Press reports that Trudeau had several domestic conflicts to address relating to the start of Parliament and coronavirus travel regulations. However, Trudeau reportedly asked to speak with Trump over the phone.
The Washington Examiner also reached out to Trudeau’s office for comment.
Earlier this year, Trump signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, dubbed the USMCA, as part of fulfilling his key 2016 campaign promise to alter free trade agreements that put the U.S. at an economic disadvantage.
The deal keeps intact most of NAFTA but adds provisions that limit supply chains abroad, ends the outsourcing of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico, and opens up farm products to Canada.
There are nearly 11.5 million reported cases of the coronavirus across the globe, with more than 535,000 deaths.
Canada has reported more than 107,000 cases of COVID-19 and 8,700 deaths. In the U.S., more than 2.8 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus, with the nation’s death toll totaling more than 130,000. More than 35 million people in the U.S. have been tested for COVID-19, according to the latest reading of the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
