Top moments of last night’s U.S. presidential debate

September 27, 2016 | Last updated on September 27, 2016
2 min read

During last night’s U.S. presidential debate, several topics concerning Canada cropped up. One of these exchanges focused on how each of the candidates regard their global trade partners.

As Maclean’s reports, neither candidate “broke new policy ground” on this front, but Donald Trump continued to stress that U.S. trade deals need to renegotiated. For her part, Hillary Clinton vowed to enforce existing trade deals and ensure they support the economy.

Read: What’s the probability of a Trump presidency?

When it comes to U.S.-Canada trade agreements, notes Maclean’s, “The prospect of a U.S. president actually trying to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement would have to be deeply worrying to Ottawa. Since NAFTA was signed in 1994 […], it’s come to been seen as the backbone of Canada’s export economy.”

What’s more, this debate comes amid the weakening of world trade. As The Associated Press reports, global trade has weakened to its slowest pace since 2009, amid a groundswell of anti-globalization sentiment, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

To check out 9 must-see moments from the U.S. presidential debate, click here. These moments include Clinton mentioning that Trump “rooted for the housing crisis” prior to the 2008 recession, as well as Clinton confronting Trump about his refusal to release his tax returns.

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More on global trade

The WTO predicted Tuesday that global trade will rise only 1.7% this year, down from its April prediction for 2.8%. And, world trade in 2017 is now expected to rise between 1.8% and 3.1%, down from 3.6% anticipated previously.

The WTO also cited slowing economic growth and trade in developing countries like China and Brazil, as well as a deceleration in imports growth in North America from that of the last two years.

The new forecast comes as WTO opens a three-day public forum that has started with discussions about ways to make trade more inclusive, and a debate about helping small- and medium-sized enterprises to take part in the global market.

WTO says uncertainties loom over its forecast for the rest of 2016, including the effect of the British vote, financial volatility due to changes in monetary policy in developed countries, and growing anti-trade rhetoric that could affect state policies.