NAFTA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to bring sweeping changes to the ‘terrible’ North American Free Trade Agreement just got a dose of reality.
An eight-page draft letter to Congress outlining the administration’s negotiating objectives shows how daunting it will be to translate campaign rhetoric to real policy changes that will achieve Trump’s goals of bringing jobs back to the U.S.and cutting the trade deficit.
Critics are pointing out that the White House blueprint for changing NAFTA sounds a lot like the defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership deal negotiated by the Obama administration because it includes calls for U.S. trading partners to adhere to strict labor and environmental standards. At the same time, it doesn’t address issues that Trump touted on the campaign trail, such as currency manipulation.
‘For those who trusted Trump’s pledge to make NAFTA *much better* for working people, it’s a punch in the face because the proposal describes TPP or any other same-old, same-old trade deal,’ said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch and a leading critic of current trade policy.”
-Adam Behsudi, “Trump’s NAFTA changes aren’t much different from Obama’s,” Politico, March 30, 2017 02:47pm