The Obama administration's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline was controversial; opinions on TransCanada's NAFTA Chapter 11 claim vary. Now Donald Trump has weighed in. You can probably imagine the result. This is from the Toronto Star:
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he would reject the Keystone XL pipeline if TransCanada Corp. didn’t give the U.S. a “big, big chunk of the profits, or even ownership rights.”
All of Trump’s Republican rivals say they would immediately approve the pipeline from the Alberta oil sands, which President Barack Obama rejected in November. Trump, who bills himself as a master negotiator, now says he would require TransCanada to fork over billions.
“I want 25 per cent of the deal for the United States. They’re going to make a fortune,” he declared in Muscatine, Iowa on Sunday. On Saturday, he said he would ask for “25 per cent of the profits forever.”
Trump, campaigning as an economic nationalist, said he wants the pipeline approved. But he said TransCanada should not be allowed to send Canadian oil through American land—“through farmland and through cities and wherever the hell they’re going” — without paying a hefty price.
“When they do this pipeline, it’s going to be a very profitable thing and it’s really Canada oil coming down — so it’s not — I like Canada, I want these people to be happy, but I want the developers of the pipeline to give the United States a big, big chunk of the profits or even ownership rights, like I do in business. That’s what I do,” he said.
“I want a big piece of the deal. Otherwise I’m not going to approve it. They will give us a lot.”
Trump also declared that he is “not in love with the idea of taking Canadian oil.” He added, “I love Canada, by the way.”
This would all be a lot funnier if his poll numbers weren't so high!
