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Kushner emerged as conduit for Canada on NAFTA talks

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 25, 2017, file photo, Vice President Mike Pence, from left, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin listen on Capitol Hill in Washington, as President Donald Trump speaks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's National Days of Remembrance ceremony. On the day the White House threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Kushner emerged as a key conduit between the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) FILE - In this Tuesday, April 25, 2017, file photo, Vice President Mike Pence, from left, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin listen on Capitol Hill in Washington, as President Donald Trump speaks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's National Days of Remembrance ceremony. On the day the White House threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Kushner emerged as a key conduit between the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

By Associated Press May 9, 2017 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – On the day the White House threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, emerged as a key conduit between the United States and Canada.

But Kushner’s role has sparked a cross-border game of telephone tag and conflicting accounts about who called who first.

According to a White House official, aides to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Kushner urgently on April 26 after seeing news reports that Trump was considering signing an executive order withdrawing from NAFTA.

But accounts of Kushner’s involvement differed Monday in Canadian media reports. According to The Canadian Press news agency, it was Kushner who first reached out to Trudeau’s chief of staff to suggest a call between the two leaders.