Donald Trump deal-maker, negotiator: Justin Trudeau on NAFTA deal

In an interview with CTV News, Trudeau said: "Donald Trump has demonstrated that he’s a bit of a disruptive force. He does unpredictable things. Trudeau said. He's a deal-maker. He's a negotiator."

Trudeau even said he is optimistic about his relationship with Trump.

"The thing that reassures me fundamentally is he got elected on a commitment to help people, to make America great again."

He said: "The way to help those people is to bring in trade deals and jobs and economic growth that is going to help."

Trudeau's comments came at a time Canada is negotiating with the US over NAFTA deal.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently, early in this month, faced heat from US President Donald Trump, who acclaimed the former saying "a nice guy" but also has hit out at his counterpart over their differences on "trade deficit" discussions, media reports said.

Referring to Trudeau, Trump on Thursday said: "I like the prime minister very much. Prime Minister Trudeau. Nice guy. Good guy. No, I like him. But we had a meeting... He said, 'No, no, you have a trade surplus.' I said, 'No we don't.' He said, 'No, no you have a trade surplus."

Canada is presently negotiating with the US regarding the NAFTA, an agreement which came into force from January 1994 by Canada, Mexico and United States creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America.

For almost 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.

Both Canada and the US differ in the climate change.

The US has already announced their withdrawal from the Paris Climate and the process of coming out from it is underway.

On the other hand, Canada wants a new NAFTA with a reference to the global climate issues and make necessary steps to tackle them.

In the negotiations, Canada is working for a better labour and environmental provisions.

Both Canada and the US are in favour of making an environment agreement in the new NAFTA instead of designing a separate deal.

The two nations also want to make certain provisions to prevent NAFTA nations from violating the rules for the sake of drawing investments.

Amid the ongoing negotiations in the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, in November, said the country can't agree to extreme proposals put forward by the US, media reports said.

After the fifth round of talk in Mexico city, Freeland told media: "There are some areas where some extreme proposals have been put forward, and these are proposals that we simply cannot agree to."

Freeland even said certain proposals could become detrimental to the Canadian auto-industry.

When asked about whether the country should look forward to have a future without NAFTA, Freeland told media, "..hope for the best and prepare for the worst and Canada is prepared for every eventuality".

(Reporting by Suman Das)

Image: Facebook/@POTUS