Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and chief negotiator Chyrstia Freeland at a press conference Oct 1, announcing the USMCA trade deal had been reached (CBC)

U.S-Mexico-Canada trade deal, Canadians not impressed

While the Prime Minister happily announced the new deal that replaced NAFTA, known as USMCA, is a win for Canadians, it seems that Canadians are not nearly as impressed by the tri-partite agreement.

It announcing the agreement, Liberal Prime Minister Trudeau said, “it’s a deal that will be good for Canadian workers, good for Canadian business, good for Canadian families.

A new survey by the Angus Reid Institute shows however a majority seem not to agree.  The poll shows more Canadians are displeased or very displeased with the deal than would agree with the Prime Minister and are pleased with the result.  While the opinions tend to be split along party lines, even many Liberal voters felt it wasn’t such a good deal.

Meanwhile, Canadians opinion of their biggest trading partner has taken a turn for the worse.

In June 2016, about 63 per cent of Canadians had a  “very” or “mostly favourable view of the U.S, but after the deal, that has dropped to 49 per cent.

Half of respondents thought Canada’s negotiating team was “too soft” and gave up too much to get the deal while another third somewhat shrugged and indicated that the deal was “better than nothing”

Another third (31%) felt that getting this deal was about the same as having no deal, while an almost similar number (34%) thought the deal was worse.

The Prime Minister seems to have suffered the most with 37% pleased with his performance, while 52 per cent said they were disappointed

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