Clinton Campaign Demands Obama Answers on NAFTA

Feb. 29, 2008 — -- Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign questioned the sincerity of rival Sen. Barack Obama's recent rhetoric against NAFTA today, citing a Canadian television report that suggested a senior Obama campaign official had told an official within the Canadian government not to take Obama's anti-trade agreement statements seriously.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Television network reported that two unnamed Canadian sources said a "senior member" of Obama's campaign team had called Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador in Washington, in the last month to warn him that Obama would be ratcheting up rhetoric against the North American Free Trade Agreement, but that he should "not be worried about what Obama says about NAFTA," adding, "It's just campaign rhetoric. … It's not serious."

Both the Canadian Embassy and the Obama campaign have repeatedly denied the CTV report.

However, a source close to the Canadian prime minister's office tells ABC News that the original communication was between Austan Goolsbee, Obama's senior economic adviser and an economics professor at the University of Chicago, and Georges Rioux, Canada's consul general in Chicago, about Obama's rhetoric against NAFTA.

According to the source, Wilson exaggerated the communication between the Obama campaign and the Canadian official during discussions this week with Ian Brodie, the prime minister's chief of staff, who leaked the story to CTV.

Since the Ohio Democratic debate last week, the Canadian government has fielded questions from opposition parties and the media about Obama and Clinton's anti-NAFTA rhetoric.

ABC News spoke to Goolsbee, Thursday, and who denied calling the Canadian embassy in Washington, or calling Rioux, but wouldn't confirm or deny whether he had spoke to Rioux about Obama's NAFTA rhetoric.

"It's not correct that I contacted them," Goolsbee told ABC News Thursday. "They contacted me at one point to say 'hello' because their office is around the corner but it is not correct that I contacted them at all," he said.

"I am not confirming or denying any meetings with anyone," Goolsbee told ABC News, directing queries to Bill Burton, Obama's campaign spokesperson.

Rioux, who was in Ottawa for meetings this week with the Prime Minister's Office, told ABC News that he too will neither confirm nor deny whether he spoke to Goolsbee.

Both men live in Chicago, where Obama's campaign is headquartered.

The Obama campaign isn't responding to requests for information about the reported conversation between Goolsbee and Rioux.