Trump plans to cancel US trade agreements
WASHINGTON: Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and most of his government were miles away from Mexico City on Wednesday, sitting on a grandstand under the hot midday sun, watching an aviation demonstration at a military base, when the news started to filter through.
In cellphone messages and traded remarks, they learned that President Donald Trump planned within days to sign an order triggering US withdrawal from Nafta, the trilateral agreement that has regulated trade in North America for decades.
About the same time in Washington, Canadian Ambassador David Macnaughton was learning the same thing. Though taken aback by the timing, he was not quite as astounded that the US president would make such a move with no warning. “I’ve learned not to be surprised by very much these days,” he said.
On Thursday, a second bombshell exploded. Trump, in an Oval Office interview with The Washington Post, served notice that he may terminate a bilateral trade agreement with South Korea, another major US ally and trading partner. “It’s a horrible deal,” he said.
Since taking office, Trump has set out to unsettle and surprise his allies and adversaries alike, and by that measure he has succeeded. He wants stalwart friends such as Canada and Mexico to be on edge about what the US president might decide to do on any given day. The aim of his campaign was to disrupt the world’s political and economic order.
Stephen Bannon, chief White House strategist, with trade hard-liner Peter Navarro, a protectionist who has warned for years of deficits with China, led the push for Trump to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Mexico maintains that it is, if anything, more eager than the US to proceed with Nafta renegotiations.
In a news conference Trudeau spoke of “tremendous opportunities” and “mutual benefit”. At the same time he said Canada was looking at “a broad range of options and paths available to us” should Nafta renegotiation fail. – Washington Post