Trump, under pressure to honor McCain, orders flags to half-staff
AFP/File / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, MANDEL NGANWhile tributes had poured in from the US and abroad highlighting John McCain's lifetime of service, Donald Trump has only sent a single tweet until Monday, when he switched tack and ordered national flags to half-staff
Donald Trump on Monday bowed to pressure to honor the late John McCain, ordering the lowering of flags across the country to half-staff, as the late senator fired a parting shot at the president in a farewell message to the nation.
Trump's about-face came after he found himself mired in controversy over his rather conspicuous failure to pay tribute to McCain, who died Saturday at 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
When veterans' groups launched appeals for a more fitting salute to McCain, a Navy veteran who was imprisoned for more than five years in Vietnam, the Republican leader -- who had no love lost for the Arizona senator -- blinked.
"Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country," Trump said in a statement as he ordered the flag atop the White House and elsewhere to fly at half-staff until McCain's burial on Sunday.
The White House flag was lowered after McCain's death on Saturday -- but it was once again at the top of the flagpole on Monday morning.
Trump's initial silence about McCain underscored the isolation of the US leader and fueled criticism that he is incapable of bringing a divided nation together even as it mourns a man widely seen as an American hero and a political icon.
In Phoenix, where a week of tributes to McCain was soon to get underway, Rick Davis, the two-time presidential candidate's former campaign manager, confirmed that Trump would not be attending the funeral.
The president himself said Vice President Mike Pence would speak at a ceremony honoring McCain at the US Capitol on Friday.
White House chief of staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor John Bolton would represent the administration at his services, he added.
- 'Tribal rivalries' -
In Phoenix, Davis read a posthumous statement from McCain that did not spare Trump.
"We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe," McCain said.
AFP / Robyn BeckRick Davis, a former campaign manager for John McCain, reads the Arizona Republican's final message in Phoenix
"We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been," he said -- -- an apparent reference to Trump's plans for a border wall.
"I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world's greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil," McCain continued.
"Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here," he said, adding that the country "will get through these challenging times."
- 'Not a war hero' -
AFP/File / Stan HONDAJohn McCain at the 2008 Republican convention, where he accepted the party presidential nomination
McCain, who served as a senator from Arizona for more than 30 years, clashed repeatedly with Trump even though they were both Republicans, and the president initially paid scant tribute to the senator after his death.
The Washington Post reported that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Chief of Staff Kelly and other senior staff had urged a statement be released referring to McCain as a "hero" -- but Trump opted to tweet instead.
"My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain," Trump tweeted. "Our hearts and prayers are with you!"
That had been the extent of Trump's remarks on McCain's passing until the White House statement on Monday.
McCain's remains will lie in state at Arizona's capitol on Wednesday, before a public viewing Friday in the rotunda of the US Capitol -- an honor reserved for the likes of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and civil rights champion Rosa Parks.
The two men who defeated McCain in his White House campaigns, Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, are expected to deliver eulogies at a Saturday service at the National Cathedral in Washington.
McCain will be buried Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in a private funeral service.
- Bipartisan praise -
In Washington, McCain's death has been a rare occasion for bipartisan praise for his lifetime in public service.
AFP / MANDEL NGANThe US flag above the White House returned to full staff Monday -- only to be lowered again later on in the day in honor of McCain
Tributes have poured in from every living former president, honoring the former Navy aviator for his courage, integrity and decency.
On Capitol Hill, his desk on the Senate floor was draped with a black cloth, and adorned with a bowl of white roses.
The enmity between Trump and McCain dates from the day the real estate tycoon announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination with an attack on Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump said of McCain: "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."
In the years since, McCain was Trump's loudest Republican critic, especially as the president disrupted America's long-time alliances.
After Trump met in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, McCain called it "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory."
US, Mexico finalize trade pact; Canada to rejoin talks Tuesday
AFP / MANDEL NGANPresident Trump said he would scrap the name NAFTA, which he claimed had bad "connotations."
After months of intense negotiations the United States and Mexico agreed Monday on a thoroughly overhauled free trade pact, while talks with Canada begin Tuesday.
Despite the milestone announcement, the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement entered a new phase of uncertainty, with Canada's foreign ministry insisting that country's signature was "required" while President Donald Trump suggested he could cut Ottawa out of the deal.
"It's a big day for trade. It's a really good deal for both countries," President Donald Trump said in announcing the agreement from the Oval Office, with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto participating by telephone.
Trump also confused matters by saying he would terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and wanted to change the agreement's name.
But with the outlines of a NAFTA 2.0 now on paper, including provisions on auto trade, tougher worker rights, and a provision to review the deal every six years, a spokesman for Canada's top diplomat and trade negotiator said Chrystia Freeland would travel to Washington on Tuesday to rejoin the talks.
Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite the nearly 25-year-old trade pact but in the last five weeks Washington and Mexico City had worked to resolve their own differences without Ottawa.
Trump said he would speak to Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "very soon" but stressed that he could go ahead without Ottawa in the new agreement.
"We could have a separate deal or we could put it in the same deal," Trump said.
He indicated he would take a tough line with Ottawa on autos and dairy tariffs, long a source of tension between the neighboring countries.
- Not a sunset clause -
Mexican officials have insisted all along that the NAFTA must be a trilateral deal.
AFP / MANDEL NGANPresident Trump suggested he could cut Ottawa out of a final agreement.
"It is our wish, Mr. President, that now Canada will also be able to be incorporated in all this," Mexico's Pena Nieto told Trump.
Pena Nieto said on Twitter he had spoken to Trudeau on Monday, urging Ottawa to rapidly rejoin the talks with the goal of reaching a final NAFTA rewrite this week.
The logistics were complicated by the fact Freeland was on a week-long European trip but her spokesman Adam Austen said Tuesday she would travel to Washington on Tuesday "to continue negotiations."
"We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class," he said in a statement. "Canada's signature is required."
The Canadian team could be more amenable to the talks now that the United States has backed away from a controversial and strenuously-opposed provision to require the three nations to renegotiate NAFTA after five years.
Instead, senior US officials told reporters the agreement had been extended for 16 years but would be reviewed every six years. If the parties agree to continue with no changes, it will be renewed for another 16 years.
However, if the governments want to make changes, they will negotiate while the agreement remains in place, giving them a longer time horizon -- less likely to spook investors and businesses.
The change means "reviews have consequences, but at same time you're always far enough away from the end that it will not affect investment," the official said.
"It's an alternative to sunset which we think works," another senior official said.
- NAFTA 2.0 -
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters in a call the agreement was "historic" and provided the "highest standards" of any existing agreement on digital trade, financial services and labor rights.
"We had a NAFTA agreement that had gotten seriously out of whack, that led to large trade deficits and needed updating," Lighthizer said.
The labor protections are "stronger and more enforceable than any agreement by a mile. It's not even close."
Lighthizer said the administration would notify Congress by Friday of the new agreement, which would allow the required 90 days' notice so that Pena Nieto can sign the deal before handing over the Mexican presidency to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
A senior administration official said the notification would highlight the US-Mexico deal with the hope that Canada would join.
However, it was unclear whether the administration had the authority to substitute NAFTA with a bilateral trade agreement.
Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told reporters that if the US and Canada fail to agree to the new terms, Mexico would still benefit from an existing pact with Ottawa through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the deal Trump withdrew from as soon as he took office.
- Auto content requirements -
Trump said he would be "terminating the existing deal and going into this deal," and said he wanted a new name because "NAFTA has a lot of bad connotations for the United States because it was a rip-off. It was a deal that was a horrible deal for our country."
A key element of the US-Mexico talks has been content requirements for autos, which Mexico agreed to increase to 75 percent from North America to get duty free NAFTA treatment.
The sides also agreed that 40-45 percent of cars must be made at "high wage" factories where workers receive $16 an hour in order to receive duty-free treatment, something that could deter off-shoring US factories to Mexico
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