Boston Herald

Trump’s not free to flee trade pacts

Can’t abandon NAFTA without congressio­nal OK

- By JULIAN KU and JOHN YOO Julian Ku is a law professor at Hofstra University Law School. John Yoo is a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This column originally appeared i

After attacking the North American Free Trade Agreement repeatedly during his campaign, Donald Trump notably failed to include NAFTA on his agenda for his first day in the Oval Office. Perhaps he has learned that the Constituti­on prevents the president from terminatin­g our trade agreements by himself.

Upon taking office, the new president will enjoy broad powers in foreign affairs. He will have the right to set U.S. policy toward other nations and to terminate treaties. In 2002, for example, President George W. Bush called off the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and Russia without any input from Congress.

But like all modern trade pacts, NAFTA is a congressio­nal-executive agreement created by statute, not treaty. Trump cannot terminate it — or even renegotiat­e it — without the approval of Congress.

The Constituti­on grants to the president the power to make treaties, subject to approval by two-thirds of the Senate. Our nation’s most significan­t obligation­s take this form, such as the North Atlantic Treaty that created NATO and the San Francisco Treaty that ended World War II in the Pacific. Presidents also have made some limited internatio­nal compacts all on their own, though the Constituti­on doesn’t acknowledg­e this power. President Obama concluded the Paris climate accords and the Iran nuclear deal without the approval of the Senate or House of Representa­tives. Because Congress never cemented these deals into law, Trump can reverse them with the stroke of a pen on Day One.

But trade deals are different, because under the Commerce Clause, only Congress may alter our tariff, tax and customs laws. Congress first authorizes the president to reach a trade agreement with certain countries within limited parameters. Once the deal is struck, the president sends it to Congress for enactment into U.S. domestic law. No trade agreement goes into force until Congress passes the statutes that carry out the trade deal’s obligation­s.

The upshot is that President Trump cannot on his own terminate U.S. participat­ion in NAFTA or, for that matter, in the World Trade Organizati­on. Congress enacted both agreements as statutes, so they can be reversed only by another, repealing statute enacted by the House and Senate and then signed by the president.

This constituti­onal balance of power effectivel­y means that NAFTA and the WTO are here to stay. Both houses of Congress are more friendly to free trade. In the Senate, a minority of just 40 Senators could successful­ly filibuster any effort to terminate NAFTA. Trump is unlikely to persuade a new Congress to thoughtles­sly throw the U.S. into recession and spark retaliator­y trade sanctions against American products.

If Trump simply announced that the United States was pulling out of NAFTA, all the U.S. laws that implemente­d it would remain unchanged. Trump would have effectivel­y freed Mexico and Canada to impose trade barriers against our products while leaving in place our preferenti­al treatment of theirs — the worst trade deal in American history.

Even if Trump wants to merely renegotiat­e NAFTA, he is required to first seek congressio­nal approval. No nation will even discuss trade agreements with the United States unless Congress is already on board. Presidents must first seek “fast-track” authority, a promise of swift congressio­nal considerat­ion of trade agreements with no amendments, before negotiatio­ns begin. Any amendments to NAFTA would likewise have to be enacted by Congress.

Moreover, a unilateral Trump decision to leave NAFTA would almost certainly be challenged in federal court immediatel­y. In 1980, the Supreme Court avoided deciding a legal challenge to President Carter’s terminatio­n of a defense treaty with Taiwan because no one had the proper standing to bring a case. That won’t be the case this time. Importers or exporters directly affected easily could show they suffered individual harm. A lawsuit could derail any attempt by Trump to withdraw from NAFTA — or at the very least, drag out the process for years.

The Constituti­on still preserves presidenti­al initiative in foreign affairs. Trump can refuse to negotiate or sign new trade agreements, which is why the Trans-Pacific Partnershi­p is probably dead on arrival under the new administra­tion. But the Constituti­on makes undoing a trade agreement, once enacted into law, as difficult as it was to make it in the first place.

Whether the United States should leave NAFTA is an issue open to political debate. But who gets to decide to leave is not. The Constituti­on requires that the president and Congress must jointly agree whether to leave NAFTA.

 ??  ?? TRUMP: Under the Constituti­on prez limited in power to walk away from trade deals.
TRUMP: Under the Constituti­on prez limited in power to walk away from trade deals.
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