AT&T nervous over NAFTA
Trump’s comment ‘causes alarm’ for CEO.
President Trump’s suggestion at a rally Tuesday that he may “terminate” the North American Free Trade Agreement may not really mean the United States would pull out of the treaty anytime soon, a top House Republican said Wednesday to reassure the alarmed chief executive of AT&T.
Speaking to supporters in an Arizona arena, Trump apologized that renegotiating NAFTA was taking so long, then indicated he might just pull the United States out of the treaty with Canada and Mexico.
“Personally, I don’t think we can make a deal, because we have been so badly taken advantage of,” Trump said.
“So I think we’ll end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point, OK? Probably,” Trump said. “I told you from the first day, we will renegotiate NAFTA, or we will terminate NAFTA. I personally don’t think you can make a deal without a termination, but we’re going to see what happens, OK?”
That suggestion worried Randall Stephenson, chief executive officer of AT&T, who questioned House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, about what Trump meant during a webcast “town hall” Wednesday from the company’s Dallas headquarters.
“AT&T has made a rather large commitment to Mexico, in fact it’s a $7 billion commitment, and we have a lot of capital at risk,” Stephenson said. “We hear words about NAFTA maybe coming down, it causes alarm. How should I think about that?”
Brady, whose committee oversees trade deals, said AT&T was an example of how American companies and workers can win when free trade breaks down protective barriers in other countries for industries such as telecommunications.
Brady said NAFTA does need to be modernized, but he assured Stephenson it is possible to reach a revised agreement, despite Trump’s speech.
“Look, the president’s rhetoric is red hot, and it creates real impacts,” Brady said. “The actions by his trade team are measured. They are following the trade objectives Congress gave them.”
Brady suggested that Trump’s reference to terminating NAFTA may have been referring to how the United States would act five years or more after a renegotiated agreement is reached.
One possibility, Brady said, is that “after the negotiations, and they’ve modernized it, do you have something like a five-year sort of reset, or sunset or trigger, where you look to see if the countries are doing what they said they would do, before it’s sort of made permanent.
“I actually think (Trump) may have been referencing that discussion for future accountability, than withdrawing right now. That’s what I’m guessing,” Brady said.