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Nova Scotia minister headed to Washington amid growing concern over NAFTA talks

Nova Scotia’s trade minister is warning that one of the province’s largest employers is under threat if Donald Trump’s proposed changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement are adopted.
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Nova Scotia’s trade minister is warning that one of the province’s largest employers is under threat if Donald Trump’s proposed changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement are adopted.

Michelin has three tire plants in the province, and provides well-paying jobs to more than 3,000 people.

Geoff MacLellan is on his way to Washington, D.C., today to stress the importance of the province’s trading relationships with American companies.

In an interview, MacLellan at first told The Canadian Press that if the protectionist trade demands made by the U.S. president are adopted, Michelin’s operations in Nova Scotia and the United States would be shut down and moved to Europe.

However, the trade minister later backed away from the dire prediction, saying a “significant impact” was likely, but he said it could take some time for that to happen.

MacLellan says three states — Illinois, Maryland and Texas — are big buyers of Michelin tires.

The Trump administration is demanding a five-year termination clause allowing easy cancellation of the agreement; tougher Buy American rules; auto-parts requirements the industry calls impossible to meet; and a gutting of the dispute mechanisms that enforce NAFTA.