CANADA/MEXICO/NAFTA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump said on Monday [8-27-18] that the United States and Mexico had reached an accord to revise key portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and would finalize it within days, suggesting he was ready to jettison Canada from the trilateral trade pact if the country did not get on board quickly. Speaking from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump promoted the preliminary agreement with Mexico as a deal that could replace Nafta and threatened to hit Canada with auto tariffs if it did not ‘negotiate fairly’…Yet while Mr. Trump may try to change the name, the agreement reached with Mexico is simply a revised Nafta, with updates to provisions surrounding the digital economy, automobiles, agriculture and labor unions. The core of the trade pact — which allows American companies to operate in Mexico and Canada without tariffs — remains intact. Now, the question becomes whether a trilateral pact becomes a bilateral deal — or Mr. Trump’s threats pressure Canada to return to the negotiating table and accede to many of the United States’ demands. The president’s apparent willingness to move on without Canada prompted confusion and concern among lawmakers — who said it may not be legally permissible, let alone smart — and businesses whose supply chains depend on a deal encompassing all three countries.”
–Ana Swanson, Katie Rogers and Alan Rappeport, “Trump Reaches Revised Trade Deal With Mexico, Threatening to Leave Out Canada,” The New York Times online, August 27, 2018