Economy

Possible Trump Trade Fix: Follow Obama’s Lead

Written by SK Ashby

Trump said he would abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), our signature trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, but he didn't do that.

Trump regime officials also said they would completely overhaul NAFTA, but they're not going to do that either.

Officials who spoke to Reuters say the current plan is to simply "upgrade" NAFTA with a few minor adjustments that were already negotiated by the Obama administration and included in the now-defunct Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Thus far, the Trump administration offered few specifics, other than expressing its desire to modernize the pact to account for digital trade that was in its infancy in the early 1990s and to tackle festering issues on labor, environment, intellectual property rights and state-owned enterprises.

Since those areas have already been addressed in the TPP negotiated under Democratic President Barack Obama and agreed by Canada and Mexico, the pact provides a useful template that could help speed up the NAFTA negotiations, U.S. officials say.

Yes, it is certainly easier to accomplish your goals when someone else already did the work for you.

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) would have more or less replaced NAFTA with language better suited for the 21st century but, as you know, Trump abandoned the TPP shortly after taking office much to the delight of imbeciles on both sides of the aisle who opposed it without even knowing what's in it.

Elements of the dead partnership will probably become official policy anyway, at least in regards to our closest neighbors. The next administration will have to pick up the pieces and recover from Trump's decision to walk away from the rest of the Pacific.