The Associated Press has obtained a memo describing a meeting between Obama economic advisor Austan Goolsbee and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago regarding trade issues. The memo says Goolsbee candidly acknowledged that “protectionist sentiment” has emerged in the Midwest. The memo goes on to say that Goolsbee said Obama’s political “messaging” should be viewed as “more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans.”
Goolsbee disputes the accuracy of that portion of the memo, but this is the first documentation to emerge confirming a meeting between the Obama economic advisor and Canadian government officials. CTV News first reported last week that an Obama campaign economic advisor communicated with Canadian embassy officials to “reassure” them that Obama’s NAFTA position was political rhetoric not to be taken seriously.
The Obama campaign denies that it’s saying one thing about NAFTA to U.S. voters and another in secret to the Canadian government. The Canadian embassy also has denied that there is any inconsistency between Obama’s public NAFTA position and what his campaign is telling them.
The memo the AP obtained says Goolsbee was frank in saying that much of the rhetoric in the primary campaign that may be perceived as protectionist is “more reflective of political maneuvering than policy”.
The Obama campaign says Goolsbee was not acting as an emissary from the campaign when he met with the Canadian consulate officials in Chicago.
Campaigning in Toledo Monday, Senator Hillary Clinton said of NAFTA, "“NAFTA — I don’t just criticize it. I don’t have my campaign go tell a foreign government behind closed doors, ‘That’s just politics. Don’t pay attention to it.’
CTV also reported last week that sources said the Clinton campaign has made indirect contact with the Canadian government, trying to reassure Ottawa of their support despite Clinton's words. The Clinton camp denied the claim.
The Canadian embassy has denied it was ever called by either the Clinton or Obama camps.
On Wednesday, CTV reported that a senior member of Obama's campaign had called the Canadian government within the last month -- saying that when Obama talks about opting out of the free trade deal, the Canadian government shouldn't worry. The operative said it was just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously.
In response, the Obama campaign told CTV last Thursday that no message was passed to the Canadian government that suggested that Obama did not mean what he said about opting out of NAFTA if it is not renegotiated.
That same day, the Obama camp did not respond to repeated questions from CTV on reports that a conversation on NAFTA was held between Goolsbee and officials at the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.
The memo that has now emerged, which was widely distributed within the Canadian government, was written by Joseph DeMora, who works at the Canadian consulate in Chicago, The Associated Press reported Monday.
DeMora wrote the memo after a Feb. 8 meeting with Goolsbee and Canada's consul general in Chicago, Georges Rioux.
But Goolsbee denied the comments in a response to The Associated Press.
"This thing about 'it's more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans,' that's this guy's language,'' Goolsbee said of DeMora.
"He's not quoting me. I certainly did not use that phrase in any way."
The document, which is more than 1,300 words, is the first public confirmation that a meeting took place.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Sunday that Goolsbee's visit was not as a representative of the campaign but rather as a professor from the University of Chicago.
Goolsbee said the visit was about 40 minutes and only two to three minutes were spent talking about NAFTA.
"(Goolsbee) was frank in saying that the primary campaign has been necessarily domestically focused, particularly in the Midwest and that much of the rhetoric that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political manoeuvring than policy,'' the memo's introduction said.
"On NAFTA, Goolsbee suggested that Obama is less about fundamentally changing the agreement and more in favour of strengthening/clarifying language on labour mobility and environment and trying to establish these as more `core' principles of the agreement.''
Goolsbee said that sentence was in line with Obama's position however he said that other portions of the memo were inaccurate, reports AP.
He said the Canadian officials inquired about Obama and raised concerns that he appears to sound like a protectionist.
Goolsbee said he told them that Obama was not a protectionist but that he was interested in balance between supporting the struggles of working Americans and recognizing the benefits of free trade on the economy.
Goolsbee said the memo's account was "a pretty ham-handed description of what I answered."
"A: In no possible way was that a reference to NAFTA. And B: In no possible way was I inferring that he was going to introduce any policies that you should ignore and he had no intention of enacting. Those are both completely crazy.''
DeMora was not available for comment Sunday.
In his closing section of the memo, DeMora said when Rioux "asked whether we could expect to hear more of this as the elections progressed, Goolsbee thought not. In fact, he mentioned that going forward the Obama camp was going to be careful to send the appropriate message without coming off too protectionist.
"As Obama continues to court the economic populist vote, particularly in upcoming contests like Ohio, we are likely to see a continuation of some of the messaging that hasn't played in Canada's favour but this should continue to be viewed in the context in which it is delivered.''
NAFTA, which was implemented in 1994, replaced the Free Trade Agreement, which was signed by Canada and the U.S. in the 1980s.
The new trade deal brought Mexico into the fold and has been blamed for job losses in states such as Ohio, a pivotal state in the Democratic primary race.
Ohio has lost more than 200,000 jobs since 2001 and it's estimated as many as 900,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the U.S. in NAFTA's first decade.
But Canadian officials say cross-border trade supports more than 275,000 jobs in Ohio alone. Economists also point out that NAFTA is not the sole factor when determining job losses. The effects of globalization and more efficient companies that do more with fewer workers have decreased the number of jobs.
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