TORONTO -- A senior Ontario cabinet minister says Canada shouldn't worry yet about Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric against NAFTA and other trade agreements.
Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid says the U.S. president-elect can't achieve his economic goals without "vibrant and fluent trade" with Ontario and Canada.
Trump promised during the U.S. presidential election campaign that he would repeal or renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he called "the worst trade deal in history."
In the text of a speech Duguid is scheduled to deliver to the Canadian Club of Toronto today, he says he's not convinced that what Trump said during the campaign will translate into problems for Ontario or Canada.
He says Canada and the U.S. do $687 billion in trade each year, half of that from Ontario alone.
Duguid says the Americans need us "nearly as much as we need them," but admits Trump tapped into a feeling that some people are being left behind by economic changes.
He acknowledges that there are also people in Ontario who do not feel that they are included in the province's growing prosperity.
