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Don't worry: Trump aide

Canada is well regarded south of the border, so Prime Minister Justin Trudeau need not be "enormously worried" about a looming overhaul in U.S. trade policy under Donald Trump, an adviser to the new administration said Monday.

Stephen Schwarzman, who leads the president's Strategic and Policy Forum, said Canada will be in a good position should there be a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"There may be some modifications, but basically things should go well for Canada in terms of any discussions with the United States," said Schwarzman, who was in Calgary for meetings with Trudeau and his federal cabinet.

Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group investment firm, met privately with Trudeau and with ministers as part of a two-day cabinet retreat where the challenges posed by a Trump presidency were expected to dominate the agenda.

Trump has famously promised a new trade relationship with the world focusing on American interests — indeed, he made good on one part of that promise Monday by signing an order killing off the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Schwarzman said the Trump administration is more concerned with agreements in which there are big trade imbalances, which is not the situation with Canada. Americans hold an "unusually positive" view of Canada and the two countries have been great partners "for as long as anybody can remember," he added.

David MacNaughton, Canada's ambassador to the United States, has suggested bilateral agreements outside of NAFTA are a possibility.

It is vital to have a good economic relationship with the U.S., and while some matters may be dealt with inside the controversial Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement, which Trump has promised to revisit, others may be better handled outside it, he said.

On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggested Trump will meet with both Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in the next month or so to talk about how best to proceed on renegotiations.



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