McCain Says Renegotiating NAFTA Will Hurt Ties With Canada

In regards to the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), GOP frontrunner John McCain has decided to use it to attack both Democratic frontrunners. He said that the United States would be in danger of losing vital military support from Canada should the terms of NAFTA be renegotiated.

McCain said that both trade and national security went hand and hand with one another. He was having a town hall meeting at Dell Inc. on Friday, February 29. Now, McCain has decided to bring up the issue of Canada.

“One of our greatest assets in Afghanistan are our Canadian friends. We need our Canadian friends, and we need their continued support in Afghanistan,” McCain explained. He added: “So what do we do? The two Democratic candidates for president say they’re going to unilaterally abrogate NAFTA.

“How do you think the Canadian people are going to react to that?” McCain asked with rhetoric.

So far, there are 2,500 troops serving in Afghanistan that are from Canada.

However, both Democratic frontrunners did not use the word. That one word McCain used is a synonym of abolishing. McCain implied that either Clinton or Obama would abolish NAFTA. However, Clinton and Obama said that they would renegotiate NAFTA and not do away with it.

So far, the issue of NAFTA is not popular in Ohio. But both Clinton and Obama said that they would want to renegotiate the deal. Unless both Canada and Mexico came to the table, both Clinton and Obama would withdraw. So far, the issue of NAFTA will become one of the most important issues heading into the March 4 contests.

Ohio is considered a “must win” state for Clinton.

“I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it, and we renegotiate on terms that are favorable to all of America,” Clinton said at the debate.

Obama added agreeing with Clinton: “I will make sure that renegotiate. … I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced.”

So far, McCain tends to attack both Clinton and Obama on NAFTA as he plans to link this with national security. Currently, national security is the platform that John McCain has been using for the GOP race.

Mathematically, McCain will be the GOP candidate. However, Mike Huckabee has refused to drop out of the race. As a result, McCain had to keep focused on the upcoming GOP contests.