Former Canada PM Stephen Harper planning to visit White House without informing govt
Ottawa, Jun 28 (IBNS): Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is planning to visit the United States (US) soon but without notifying the government, media reports said.
Harper is planning to visit the White House in the coming week.
CTV News reported that the American officials are expecting the former Canadian PM to visit the US on Jul 2.
However, the purpose of Harper's visit is yet to be known.
Harper's US visit will occur amid tension between the two countries over North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the imposition of tax on Canadian steel and aluminium export by Trump administration.
Trump originally imposed tariffs in March and had earlier exempted Canada, Mexico and the EU to buy time for negotiations.
Countering Trump administration, Trudeau has imposed tariffs on imported steel, aluminium and other products from the US.
Canada's step will be effective from Jul 1, a day before Harper's US visit.
The NAFTA is an agreement which came into force from January 1994 by Canada, Mexico and United States creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America.
Trump has alleged that the US faced severe losses in trade pacts with Canada and Mexico, the two partners of NAFTA deal.
For more than two years, US President Trump criticised the agreement and also hinted to take some serious steps being in the administration or at least send some ultimatums.
Trump reportedly wants the treaty to be more fair.
In October last year, Harper had lashed out at Trudeau government over the NAFTA crisis.
Regarding the NAFTA negotiations, Harper had told media: "I fear that the NAFTA re-negotiation is going very badly. I also believe that President (Donald) Trump's threat to terminate NAFTA is not a bluff … I believe this threat is real. Therefore, Canada's government needs to get its head around this reality: it does not matter whether current American proposals are worse than what we have now."
"What matters in evaluating them is whether it is worth having a trade agreement with the Americans or not" the former PM added.
Apart from the negotiations, Harper had criticised the federal government on a host number of issues.
He criticised Trudeau government for rejecting the proposals of the US too early, negotiating along with Mexico and also putting forward the progressive priorities like aboriginal and environment issues.
However, the Canadian government did not approve Harper's comments.
(Reporting by Suman Das)
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