NAFTA ‘Did Not Happen by Accident,’ Mulroney Says

Former PM defends trade deal before US Senate committee

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney (R) defends NAFTA at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 30, 2018. With him are former U.S. ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne (centre) and former Mexican secretary of commerce Jaime Serra Puche, both of whom played key roles in negotiating NAFTA more than 25 years ago. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

OTTAWA—Former prime minister Brian Mulroney offered a spirited defence of the North American Free Trade Agreement in Washington this week, while warning about the potential impacts of a U.S. withdrawal from the deal.

The comments came Jan. 30 as Mulroney appeared before the U.S. Senate committee on foreign relations, only days after the latest round of NAFTA discussions ended in Montreal with guarded optimism about the future.