The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is doing what Canadian governments must do when faced with a new U.S. administration: trying to form relationships and gather intel. The Globe's Campbell Clark writes that Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Finance Minister Bill Morneau were in Washington this week meeting U.S. officials. Washington today is not your typical U.S. administration, notes Mr. Clark. On trade, the most critical issue for Canada, Ms. Freeland Wednesday said it is too early to understand U.S. plans for renegotiating NAFTA. President Donald Trump's senior trade officials have not yet been confirmed, she noted, so she had a general conversation about trade with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The good news, she said, is that when she made the case that Canada-U.S. trade is mutually beneficial, it was "like pushing on an open door." Ottawa has tried to use another area high on the Trump administration's priorities, security, to try to get closer. If the Trump administration views Canada as a good ally, the reasoning goes, it will be friendlier in all areas, such as trade.