How Trump's son-in-law has allowed a $ 1.2 trillion commercial zone to remain intact

OTTAWA / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Robert Lighthizer was the public face of tough year-long negotiations to reformulate NAFTA, but savoring a successful conclusion at Monday's White Garden Rose Garden, the US trade representative the architect of the case.

"I already said, and I repeat, that agreement would not have been reached without Jared," Lighthizer told reporters.

The 70-year-old senior negotiator was referring to Jared Kushner, his youngest son and son-in-law of Donald Trump, more than 30 years old, who was asked by the president to help in trade early in the war. presidency, particularly for Canada and Mexico.

While the time spent at the White House by Kushner was hectic – Chief of Staff John Kelly temporarily withdrew his security clearance and he was criticized for his relations with the Middle East East – its role in keeping the North American trade agreement afloat, several sources said.

A 37-year-old real estate engineer, married to Ivanka, Trump's daughter, Kushner has the confidence of his father-in-law and is very close to Lighthizer, a Canadian source said.

His friendship with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, whom he knows on Wall Street, helped dispel several exchanges in this relationship and secure a US-Mexico deal at the finish line in August, said a another source close to the negotiations.

"The case has collapsed more than once. And every time, it's a person who has always found a way to replenish it: Jared Kushner, said Videgaray to Reuters.

Similarly, at the outset of the negotiations, two of Canada's most trusted advisors, Justin Trudeau – chief of staff Katie Telford and private secretary Gerald Butts – have established ties with Kushner, Hassan Yussuff, president of the Labor Congress of Canada, said by telephone interview. Yussuff was on the NAFTA Advisory Board of Chrystia Freeland, Canada's chief negotiator in negotiations and the country's foreign minister.

According to another Canadian source, Telford and Butts traveled to Washington to meet Kushner in the early days of the presidency.

These links became evident again last week, when the mood between Lighthizer and Freeland became toxic, with the US deadline of September 30 to close talks being imminent.

A third Canadian source familiar with the discussions said that the Americans "were furious" when Freeland took part in a panel in Toronto titled "Taking on the Tyrant", which included uncomfortable comments about Trump, following A previous speech criticizing US trade policy.

Trump summed up the atmosphere frankly, saying Wednesday: "We do not like their representatives very much", as the Canadian negotiating team looked at the politically sensitive issue of US access. United to the dairy market of Canada.

"There was a time when traditional trading channels seemed to collapse, as they simply could not solve some of the most important problems, dairy being one of them. "said one person in Washington aware of the situation.

Kushner continued to talk to Butts and Telford, and on Thursday a message was sent: the United States wanted to know what was not negotiable for Canada. The answer was that chapter 19, the dispute resolution mechanism, was a red line.

On Friday morning, it was clear that the Trump government was no longer fighting for Chapter 19 – "The Americans blinked," said a fourth senior Canadian source directly aware of the negotiations.

"I do not think the administration itself was hanging on chapter 19, I think Robert Lighthizer was," Yussuff said.

This breakthrough resulted in concessions from the Trudeau team, mainly in the dairy sector. The fourth Canadian source described the thought as "Better to eliminate dairy now" instead of negotiating from a weaker position if negotiations failed and Trump hit them with 25% tariffs on the market. the automobile, the stick that he had used to rush negotiations with Mexico Canada since May.

On Friday, Kushner had Lighthizer on a teleconference with Telford and Butts. "Together they solved some of the outstanding issues together and this led to a breakthrough in the negotiations, ultimately leading to the success of the agreement," said the person in Washington.

With an agreement in sight, Mexico and the United States canceled their intention to publish Friday night the text of their bilateral agreement to give Canada the opportunity to join before Sunday's deadline.

Discussions intensified, Telford "talking on the phone all the time", ending with Kushner, said the fourth Canadian source.

The Freeland and Trudeau offices did not respond to requests for comment. The White House declined to comment.

INTENSIFYING EFFORTS

The survival of NAFTA was by no means presumed. After demanding early last year that it be reworked for the United States, Trump repeatedly threatened to throw in the trash agreement of $ 1.2 trillion, 25 years old.

Tensions between the United States and Canada began at the peak, with strained relations between Trump and Trudeau after acrimonious discussions in Quebec City in June at a G7 summit.

"There was a lot of tension, I would say, between him and me – I think, more specifically," Trump said at a press conference Monday. "And everything is settled. Do you know when it's over? Around 12 o'clock last night.

Lighthizer, said on Monday: "If you do not wish to withdraw from an agreement, you can not get one," raising hands to the head to describe the full intensity of Trump's deal.

With each slowdown in the negotiations, which officially began last August, many actors helped to stabilize the situation. One of the most difficult moments was last April, when trade experts said Trump was about to provoke the withdrawal of the United States from NAFTA, which led to frenzied lobbying by share of business groups.

Trump has changed his mind, according to a source close to the talks, after his Agriculture Minister, Sonny Perdue, showed the president a map including all agricultural states backing Trump who would suffer a loss of money. export if NAFTA collapsed.

Likewise, the conclusion of the talks is nothing more than Kushner's efforts. External factors also pushed all parties to an agreement.

In the weeks following the announcement of Mexico-United States. According to American and Mexican sources, American and Mexican authorities increasingly understood that a new trade agreement might not be adopted by Congress, an American source familiar with the process said.

To avoid the risk of having nothing, Videgaray and the Minister of the Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, who is responsible for negotiations with Mexico, worked behind the scenes to "triangulate" the communication between Canadians and Americans in order to to try to "unhook" the agreement, the source. I said.

"A bit of what they did was the role of an air traffic controller in the descent of this aircraft," the source said.

The relationship between Videgaray and Kushner was a main safety valve that helped reduce the tensions that gradually appeared between Freeland and Lighthizer, the source said.

"(Videgaray) has become a kind of channel, a way back between Freeland and USTR via Jared to get this landing," added the source.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Guajardo also attempted to serve as a bridge between Lighthizer and Freeland, offering advice from his bilateral trading experience with Lighthizer earlier this summer, said a Mexican source close to the talks.

Eventually, the talks failed, as Kushner abandoned his plans to spend the Jewish Sukkot festival with his family late Sunday, said the person in Washington, while Canada and the United States unveiled the latest details. a deal. . It was finally announced at 23:35. EDT, just 25 minutes before the deadline.