Pro-NAFTA senators press Trump
Anumber of pro-trade American lawmakers had lunch with Donald Trump on Tuesday as they ramped up the political campaign to prevent him from blowing up NAFTA. Trump met at the White House with senior staff and a half-dozen Republican senators, who urged him not to start cancelling NAFTA, which Trump has threatened to do as a bargaining tactic.
This came after a similar meeting in which U.S. car companies took their concerns to VicePresident Mike Pence. They are frustrated with auto proposals the Trump team has put on the negotiating table and dozens of lawmakers recently echoed their concerns in a public letter.
One of the senators present at Tuesday’s meeting, Iowa’s Joni Ernst, said she raised her concerns with the president and with U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer.
“Today, I stressed to (them) the importance of maintaining NAFTA and the duty-free access our (agriculture) products enjoy under it,’’ Ernst said in a statement later.
“Trade plays a critical role in Iowa’s economy and I reiterated to the administration the importance of ensuring Iowans remain competitive in the global market — provided our trading partners are operating on a level playing field.
“I will continue working to ensure that any changes made to NAFTA do not hurt our crop and livestock producers.’’
Trump began the meeting with some inaccurate remarks about trade.
We have trade deficits with everybody. Virtually every country in the world we have trade deficits with. And that's going to be changing. Donald Trump U.S. president
He bemoaned last year’s US$17-billion trade deficit with Canada and the deficits with Mexico and China. In fact, his own government’s statistics show a $25-billion surplus in services trade with Canada last year and a $12-billion deficit for goods.
“We have tremendous losses with Mexico and losses with Canada and covered by NAFTA,’’ Trump said.
“We have trade deficits with everybody. Virtually every country in the world we have trade deficits with. And that’s going to be changing ... We’re going to look at NAFTA very seriously ... We’re already starting the negotiation. Not easy to have an election coming up, so we’ll see how that plays. But it’s going to be very successful.’’
The U.S. has midterm elections next year and Mexico has a presidential election. The U.S. has expressed a desire to get a deal done before the Mexican campaign season, which starts in the spring.