MEXICO/NAFTA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The second round of talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement begins here Friday [9-1-17] under a dark cloud after both the U.S. and Mexico raised the stakes dramatically in recent days.
U.S. President Donald Trump has jolted the tone of the meetings with renewed calls to pull out of the 23-year-old deal linking the economies of the U.S., Canada and Mexico—a drastic course U.S. officials said he came close to pursuing in April before backing down and agreeing instead to negotiate…
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told reporters this week that if the Trump administration begins the required six-month process of terminating the accord—a move some Mexican and Canadian government officials say is a negotiating tactic—Mexico would walk away from the talks…
Mexico’s business and political classes are increasingly pessimistic over the Nafta talks. The front-runner in Mexico’s 2018 presidential election, populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, pledged Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal to cancel any deal that hurts Mexico if he wins.”
-Robbie Whelan and Jacob M. Schlesinger, “U.S., Mexico Sparring Before Nafta Talks Sets Dim Tone,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 1, 2017 05:30am