U.S. lawmaker urges Wall Street to fight for NAFTA

WASHINGTON — Pro-trade lawmakers from U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s political party are looking outside Washington, pleading for help persuading the president not to make any moves that might blow up the North American Free Trade Agreement.

They’re concerned about a decision the president will face early next year: whether to make good on his threat to begin the withdrawal process as a trade gambit, which they fear could unleash unpredictable economic and political consequences across the continent.

They’re asking powerful Americans to raise their voices.

One Republican lawmaker told a gathering on Tuesday that he believes the decision will ultimately come down to three people: Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and trade czar Robert Lighthizer.

Will Hurd said he suspects there’s only one type of person who would carry any influence with this group — a powerful cohort he said has been disengaged and in denial about the real threat to NAFTA. He’s calling on Wall Street to step up. “I think there’s one thing that would influence those three people that are going to make this decision. And that’s the markets,” said Hurd, a former CIA agent who’s now a congressman from a massive district that spans two times zones along the Texas-Mexico border.

“I just came back from New York City, talking to a lot of folks in high finance. None of them think there’s a problem. And everybody thinks NAFTA 2.0 is gonna get signed.”

He said the markets tend to lag a few months behind political threats and, in this case, might end up responding too late, as it’s now lulled into a false sense of security by the lucrative corporate tax cuts the U.S. Congress is poised to adopt.

Hurd told a gathering at the Wilson Center that people will see the market as invincible if tax cuts pass, and if so, might start asking what possibly could end the bull run. The answer, he said, is simple: “’Screwing up NAFTA.”’

An executive from a major car company was at the conference. She said her industry has tried raising concerns but the administration won’t listen: “We’re having a hard time being heard by those three people,” she said.

The Trump administration surprised Canada and Mexico, and American industry, with some aggressive demands at recent negotiating rounds including a requirement that assembly lines be immediately revamped so that every car consists of parts half-produced in the U.S.

The U.S. tabled other unconventional proposals — such as a sunset clause that would automatically kill NAFTA after five years, unless every country renews it. The U.S. has signalled that could be negotiable, and Canada and Mexico have said they’re willing to create a less aggressive review mechanism.