NAFTA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration released its road map for remaking the North American Free Trade Agreement that aims to preserve ‘Buy America’ provisions and reduce the U.S. trade deficit, but steps back from some of President Donald Trump’s most fiery campaign rhetoric on trade with Mexico and Canada.
The blueprint for a new Nafta shows the White House trying to navigate the shoals of striking a deal with its closest trading partners that can pass in U.S. Congress. It contains nods to Mr. Trump’s base of voters fearful and angry over lost U.S. manufacturing jobs—including the broad objective for reducing the U.S. trade deficit with Nafta countries and an effort to retain rules that favor U.S. firms in government procurement.
The plan also backs an unspecified mechanism to prevent countries from manipulating their currencies for trade advantage, an issue of increasing concern among lawmakers and some economists, though one less central to U.S. trade ties with Mexico and Canada. It also includes provisions meant to challenge Mexico on labor and environmental issues.
In the 2016 campaign Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened to withdraw from Nafta, calling it the ‘worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere.’ The plan released Monday [7-17-17] didn’t deviate substantially from established U.S. trade policy.”
-William Maudlin, “White House Releases Its Plans for Remaking Nafta,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 18, 2017 12:17am