Trudeau dodged steel tariffs. Now he’s trying to save NAFTA.

On tariffs, as with renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada’s strategy with Trump has been to play nice and cultivate allies far and wide. It hasn’t been painless, as Canada’s dollar and business sentiment slump. The question for Trudeau is whether he can keep pressure up to secure a permanent exemption from Trump’s levies and seal a Nafta deal before Mexican and U.S. elections upend the political climate.

“The president has said as long as there’s a Nafta there won’t be any tariffs. We have a Nafta now, we will have a Nafta once we improve it. That sounds to me like we’re pretty good on not getting tariffs,” Trudeau said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Michael McKee at a steel mill in Regina, Saskatchewan. He offered to speed up talks ahead of Mexico’s election. “I’m very optimistic we’re going to be able to get to a win-win-win.”