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U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to either
renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), has said overhauling trade policy will be a top
priority after he takes office on Jan. 20.
Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and
could suffer from changes to NAFTA, which also includes Mexico.
Ford Motor Co <F.N> on Tuesday scrapped a planned Mexican car
factory and added 700 jobs in Michigan following criticism by
Trump, who turned his attention toward General Motors Co <GM.N>
with the threat of a "big border tax" over compact cars made in
Mexico.
In the video address, Trudeau and David MacNaughton, the
Canadian ambassador to Washington, stressed the closeness of
ties between the neighbors.
"We've built an economic relationship that supports jobs in
every Congressional district. We are the largest international
customer for goods and services made in the USA," said Trudeau,
who was filmed in his office in front of the U.S. and Canadian
flags.
MacNaughton said Canada was ready to work with Congress to make
the lives of citizens in both nations better and more
prosperous.
Christine Constantin, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in
Washington, said ambassadors had sent video greetings to the two
previous opening sessions of Congress.
Trudeau, who has made ties with the United States a priority,
was asked by the embassy to appear in the video, she said.
Trudeau spokesman Cameron Ahmad declined to elaborate on the
video, saying the prime minister's message spoke for itself.
In the run-up to the 2016 U.S election, Canadian diplomats
fanned out across the country to stress that Canada is the top
export destination for 35 U.S. states and that nine million
U.S. jobs depend on trade with Canada.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Grant McCool)
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