Canada's provincial leaders want a free trade deal with the US that excludes Mexico

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Canada's provincial leaders want a free trade deal with the US that excludes Mexico

2024-11-21 10:04 Last Updated At：10:10

TORONTO (AP) — The leader of Canada's most populous province said Wednesday that all of the country's provincial and territorial governments want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's federal government to negotiate a bilateral trade deal with the United States that excludes Mexico.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford chaired a phone call with all 13 provincial and territorial premiers and said they want Trudeau to do a straight bilateral trade deal with the U.S., Canada's top trading partner.

The meeting and Ford's comments come as provincial and federal governments in Canada prepare for the uncertainty of another Donald Trump presidency.

"There’s a clear consensus that everyone agrees that we need a bilateral trade deal with the U.S. and a separate bilateral trade deal with Mexico,” Ford told reporters in Toronto after the call with provincial leaders.

“We know Mexico’s is bringing in cheap Chinese parts, slapping made in Mexico stickers on, and shipping it up through the U.S. and Canada, causing American jobs to be lost and Canadian jobs. We want fair trade," he said.

Ford said they've asked for a meeting with Trudeau's government to discuss the issue.

Asked about the issue at her morning press briefing. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Trudeau “does not agree with that” and that he wants to “maintain the treaty between the three countries and strengthen relations.”

She said that during the bilateral meeting they held during the G20 summit, Mexico proposed drafting a document with concrete data on how the treaty benefits each of the three countries because there is a misconception that it only benefits Mexico or Canada.

But Trudeau's federal government did not rule out sidelining Mexico in future trade talks on Tuesday. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said she shares U.S. concerns about Mexico serving as a back door for China to import cheaper goods into the North American market as a review of the trade pact known as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement looms.

Freeland said members of the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and supporters and advisers of President-elect Trump have expressed “very grave” concerns to her about the issue and Canada shares them.

Freeland chairs a special Cabinet committee on U.S-Canada relations that is designed to address concerns about another Trump presidency. Freeland has been meeting with provincial, business and labor leaders throughout Canada.

Canada took a “Team Canada” approach to the previous trade talks with Trump. It crossed all party lines.

Trudeau called Trump after his election win and the two discussed the trade deal Trump reached during his first term with Canada and Mexico, the USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

Ottawa will soon have to focus on a scheduled review of the agreement in 2026.

During the recent U.S. election campaign, Trump proposed tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods — and in some speeches has mentioned even higher percentages. Trump has not said whether his administration would exempt Canada.

During Trump’s first term, his move to renegotiate NAFTA and reports that he was considering a 25% tariff on the auto sector were considered an existential threat in Canada at the time.

Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 75% of Canada’s exports, which include automobiles, go to the U.S.

Ford said the leaders of provinces and territories will meet in Toronto in person in mid-December regarding their U.S. trade concerns. He also noted there is a U.S. governors meeting in February that he said they'd like to attend.

Later Wednesday, Trump announced has chosen former Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, who served as ambassador to the Netherlands during his first term, as his upcoming administration’s ambassador to Canada.

“Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST,” the president-elect said in a statement.

Associated Press Writer Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Middle East latest: US vetoes a Gaza cease-fire resolution

2024-11-21 09:56 Last Updated At：10:00

The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with the Americans saying they the resolution Wednesday was not linked to an immediate release of hostages still held by Hamas.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah was showing signs of progress. However Israel’s defense minister says his country wants the right to act militarily against Hezbollah in any agreement to end the fighting.

Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty, complicating efforts to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted into all-out war in September.

Israeli strikes and combat in Lebanon have killed more than 3,500 people and wounded 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The war has displaced nearly 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians, including some foreign farmworkers, have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles. Hezbollah began firing into Israel the day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack triggered the conflict in Gaza.

Israel’s blistering war of retaliation in the Gaza Strip has killed nearly 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Some 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and another 250 were abducted. Around 100 hostages remain inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Here’s the Latest:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Turkey has acknowledged a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier attacked earlier this week by Yemen’s Houthi rebels was owned by a Turkish company.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Wednesday regarding the attack on the Anadolu S. The Houthis twice fired a missile at the vessel, which failed to hit it in both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

“We condemn the missile attacks by the Houthis,” the statement said. “Necessary initiatives are being taken to prevent the recurrence of a similar incident.”

The ministry did not elaborate on what those initiatives were.

The Anadolu S had been targeted due to its owner having Houthi-perceived ties back to trade with Israel, highlighting the high-wire act of Turkey since the start of the wars in the Mideast. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly criticized Israel and his government has banned all imports and exports with Israel in May. However, some trade is believed to have continued discretely between the nations.

CAIRO — The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday the United States bears responsibility for the vast destruction and suffering in Gaza, after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Hamas said the U.S. provides diplomatic cover for Israel's war in Gaza, which has left much of the territory in ruins and forced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million to flee, often multiple times.

“The US is directly responsible, like the (Israeli) occupation, in the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing against our people,” the group said in a statement.

Hamas ignited the war in Gaza when its fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed almost 44,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities.

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said Wednesday the United States worked for weeks to avoid vetoing a U.N. resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, and he expressed regret that compromise language was not accepted.

The U.S. said it vetoed the resolution because it was not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

“We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages,” he said. “Hamas would have seen it as a vindication of its cynical strategy to hope and pray the international community forgets about the fate of more than 100 hostages from more than 20 member states who have been held for 410 days.”

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters shortly before the council meeting that the resolution was “nothing short of outrage – a betrayal of the 101 innocent hostages still held by Hamas.” Its adoption, he said, would “send a message that terrorists can act with impunity.”

The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.

The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

UNITED NATIONS — The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza on Wednesday because it is not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.

The resolution had been sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council. Unlike the five permanent members – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France – the elected members have no veto power.

The Security Council in June had adopted its first resolution on a cease-fire plan aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas. The U.S.-sponsored resolution welcomed a cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden that the United States said Israel had accepted. It called on the militant Palestinian group Hamas to accept the three-phase plan – but the war goes on.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 15 people Wednesday, including five children and three women, according to an AP journalist who counted the bodies.

An Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed nine people, including four children and one woman, who were all taken to Nasser Hospital. Gaza’s Civil Defense said in an update on the social media platform Telegram that the strike hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians. Rescuers recovered two of those killed and two others who were injured in Khan Younis.

A separate Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat in central Gaza, killing six people, including two women and one child, who were all taken to Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals.

The Gaza Health Ministry said earlier Wednesday that 43,985 Palestinians have been killed, and 104,092 others injured since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s government spokesperson has indicated that it is exploring the option of hiring a private contractor to deliver aid to war-ravaged Gaza.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism for a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The U.N. and international aid agencies say Israel is failing to ensure safe conditions allowing them to work, while Israel accuses the U.N. of logistical failures. Israel also claims Hamas has stolen much of the aid.

Israeli media reported Tuesday that the government is now looking into hiring private companies to deliver aid.

Asked about the government’s plans, spokesman David Mencer said: “Israel is looking at many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza.” The army and COGAT, the military body responsible for Palestinian humanitarian affairs, declined comment.

Aid distribution is largely coordinated by UNRWA, the U.N. Agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel accuses the agency of cooperating with Hamas and has banned it from operating on Israeli soil. UNRWA denies the accusations.

“Certainly UNRWA has provided a failed past and we are ensuring that doesn’t continue into a failed future,” Mencer said. With the war in its 14th month, Israel has still not laid out a postwar plan for the territory.

Aid groups say the already grave humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated in recent weeks. Their efforts suffered another blow this week when armed gangs looted nearly 100 trucks loaded with food and other supplies.

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X that handing over aid distribution to a private company was a “euphemism for the beginning of military rule.” He said the move would prove dangerous for Israel’s military, which would have to secure the private company’s operations.

Gallant, who disagreed with Netanyahu’s management of the war in Gaza and plan for after the conflict, was dismissed by the prime minister earlier this month.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a televised speech Wednesday that the Lebanese militant group supports the ongoing negotiation process for a cease-fire with Israel after more than 13 months of fighting but had given some “remarks” on the proposal. He added that the outcome depends on Israel’s response.

Kassem’s speech coincided with a two-day visit to Lebanon by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein aimed at clinching a deal to halt the war that has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and more than 130 Israelis.

Speaking from an undisclosed location in a pre-recorded address, Kassem said, “We agree to the current negotiation process.”

Kassem also said that Hezbollah has “some reservations” on the cease-fire proposal, which it gave to the U.S. envoy.

“The cessation of fighting depends on Israel’s response and Netanyahu’s seriousness,” he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “No one can guarantee” whether this will lead to an actual cease-fire, Kassem said.

He said that any cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel must include “a complete and comprehensive end to the aggression,” preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and ruling out any freedom of movement for Israel in Lebanese territory.

Kassem said that before his predecessor, longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Sept. 27, the militant group had given its “approval of the Biden-Macron proposal” for a 21-day truce, which was under discussion at the time.

DAMASCUS — An Israeli airstrike on the Syrian town of Palmyra, known for the historic Roman temple complex nearby, killed 36 people and wounded more than 50 Wednesday, Syrian state-run media said.

The SANA news agency said the strikes also led to “significant material damage to the targeted buildings and the surrounding area.”

The Israeli military declined to comment on the reported strike in Syria. Israel frequently targets military sites and facilities associated with Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes. The death toll from Wednesday’s strike was unusually high.

It was not immediately clear if the ruins were damaged. The temple complex already suffered significant damage years ago during the Islamic State group’s rampage across Syria. In 2015, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in Palmyra.

Since IS lost its hold on the area, restoration work on the site has been held up by security issues, leftover IS landmines and lack of funding.

The strike in Syria comes as negotiations are underway for a potential cease-fire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, but it is unclear if the ceasefire would include Syria.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli parliament has passed a bill stripping some insurance benefits from families of minors convicted of security offenses.

A rights group denounced the legislation as a form of collective punishment of Palestinians.

The bill, which passed 29-8 late Monday, bans direct family members of minors convicted of security offenses from receiving a child allowance, study grants, or other welfare benefits under Israel’s National Insurance program while the minor is imprisoned.

It was passed to “cause parents to supervise their children and make sure that they do not engage in terrorist activity,” according to a press release on the website of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Legal group Adalah, which called on Israel’s attorney general to withdraw the law, said the true aim of the legislation was “to impose punitive measures under the pretext of counterterrorism by denying welfare benefits.”

Adalah said that because the legislation only applies to those convicted of security offenses, who are overwhelmingly Palestinian, it “creates a distinction on the basis of nationality.”

It’s the latest in a series of measures passed by the Knesset that have been denounced by rights groups as draconian.

A law passed earlier this month would allow Israel to deport family members of Palestinian attackers to Gaza or other locations. In late October, the Knesset passed two laws banning UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, from operating on Israeli soil.

BEIRUT — A Lebanese army soldier was killed Wednesday by an Israeli airstrike that hit his vehicle on the road linking Burj al-Muluk and Qalaa in southern Lebanon, the army said in a statement. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports.

A day earlier, three soldiers were killed by an airstrike that targeted an army post in the town of Sarafand, near the coastal city of Saida.

Wissam Khalifa, a resident of Sarafand who lives next to the army post and was injured in the strike, said he was shocked that it was targeted.

“It’s a safe residential neighborhood. There is nothing here at all” that would present a target, he said. “Regarding the martyred soldiers, I don’t even know if there was a gun in the center. Why did this strike happen? We have no idea.”

The Lebanese army has not been an active participant in the fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over the past 13 months, but more than 40 soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

Altogether, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, the vast majority of them in the past two months.

AMMAN, Jordan: Israel has allowed an Al Jazeera journalist wounded in an airstrike in Gaza last month to be evacuated to Jordan for medical treatment.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Ali al-Attar had been transferred to the kingdom with his sister in coordination with the World Health Organization. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Al-Attar was wounded by shrapnel when Israeli forces struck makeshift points used by Hamas-run police outside a hospital in central Gaza early on Oct. 7. There were no police present at the time.

Israel banned Al-Jazeera earlier this year, accusing it of serving as a mouthpiece of Hamas. It has also accused six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of being current or former fighters for Hamas and another armed group.

Al Jazeera has denied the allegations and accused Israel of trying to silence critical coverage. The Qatar-based network has reported round-the-clock from Gaza since the start of the war, with its field correspondents focusing on the killing of civilians in Israeli strikes. Several Al Jazeera reporters have themselves been killed or wounded.

Al Jazeera has also regularly broadcast videos released by militant groups in their entirety, including some that show Israeli hostages speaking under duress.