NAFTA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration’s chief trade negotiator plans to propose significant changes to a central aspect of the North American Free Trade Agreement, in a bid to force auto factories in Mexico to move back to the U.S., according to people briefed on the plan.
The proposal introduces a requirement that cars would need to have a specific level of U.S.-made content to qualify for tariffs breaks, a step that would change a core principle of the 23-year-old regional trade pact and pit the longtime trade members against each other. Currently, cars can cross the continent’s borders duty free if they have a specified amount of content from within the Nafta region, in keeping with the pact’s original objective of creating a more integrated continental economy…
Since negotiations with Mexico and Canada to rewrite Nafta began in mid-August, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has hinted in public statements that he was considering such a proposal to meet President Donald Trump’s demand that a revised Nafta needs to curb the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico.
But Mr. Lighthizer hasn’t yet made a specific proposal on automotive-content requirements, amid signs of strong opposition from the two Nafta partners, the U.S. auto industry, members of Congress and even some officials inside the Trump administration.”
-Jacob M. Schlesinger and William Mauldin, “Trump Administration Seeks to Jolt Nafta Talks With Content Demands,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 5, 2017 10:01pm