TORONTO (Reuters) — Royal Bank of Canada chief executive officer Dave McKay said he believes there is now a greater chance that the North American Free Trade Agreement could be scrapped.
“I think the probabilities are increasing that you’ll have some type of dynamic where there is an announcement of a scrapping of NAFTA,” he said at a conference hosted by RBC in Toronto.
Canadian bankers have expressed concern about the progress of talks to rework the trade agreement and how renegotiations could hamper the ability of clients to do business with customers in the United States and Mexico.
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McKay said he agreed with other business leaders and the Canadian government that no deal would be better than a bad deal.
“We don’t want to be stuck long-term with a deal that hurts our economy,” he said at the 2018 Canadian Bank CEO Conference.
The bosses of Canada’s seven biggest banks were all speaking at the event, which covered themes such as technology and Canada’s housing markets as well as the banks’ international expansion plans and the potential impact of trade negotiations.
