Thread by @Alex_Panetta

Some of what we’ve learned: The final ‘i’ dotted, the last ‘t’ crossed, that cemented the NAFTA deal Sunday night was Lighthizer, Freeland, and their teams working out a tariff threshold for Canadian autos so high that it basically is more symbolic than real. 1/

https://twitter.com/Alex_Panetta/status/1046918230927921152

2/ You’ve perhaps seen the details about no-auto-tariffs-ever unless Canada exports 44% more cars to the US? Apparently it goes beyond that — adjustments include switching to the more generous (NAICS) import coding system. Basically, Canada isn’t hitting these #s anytime soon

3/ Our reporting shows two distinct narratives on How The Deal Went Down. They’re not necessarily mutually exclusive. But in the 🇺🇸 gov’t telling: “We scared Canada with tariffs, they gave us dairy, we got a deal.” In the 🇨🇦 govt telling: “Um, we offered the dairy thing weeks

4/ ago predicated on movement on Chapter 19 and tariffs. The US was constructive last week, wanted a deal by Oct 1, we got a Chapter 19 document last Friday, and - voila - there’s your dairy offer. Then auto tariffs, then deal Sunday.”

5/ One of the more fascinating things today was the praise for Lighthizer from Canada, calling him constructive, friendly to Canada, and instrumental in brokering deals on autos, sunset that reconciled Canadian and American positions. Because things got FROSTY over the last year.

6/ More than once he yelled at the Canadians for leaking US proposals. Lighthizer made clear he hated media leaks. For their part, the Canadians made clear they hated Team Trump’s ideas about trade. And Canada let the public - & US stakeholders -know what was happening. Needless

7/ to say, this didn’t go down well. More than one American has described to POLITICO literally watching as a proposal landed on the table, Canadians talked to a reporter, and a reporter would call USTR to ask about the US proposal just made behind closed doors. “We saw them”

8/ But things got much quieter in the process, later on. Parties stopped leaking. Thus, a winding road sprinkled with shouting matches and mutual suspicion ended today in announcements filled with smiles. And praise for adversaries. Our story. politico.com/story/2018/10/…