Once again, Trump repeats his strategy of disavowing his negotiators and putting pressure on his partners. Yesterday, president Trump stated in an interview on Fox News that he wasn't happy with the revised NAFTA agreement that his government has been discussing with Canada and Mexico and that he wouldn't sign any new agreement until after the mid-term elections in November.
The long negotiation to update the NAFTA faces another impasse and the commercial relationship of the United States and its neighbors continues to deteriorate and - even if an agreement is finally reached - it's probable that it will be different than in the last quarter of a century.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the first leftist politician to become president of Mexico, has issued signals aimed at validating his country's firm position and stated that "an eventual failure in the renegotiations to maintain the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would not be fatal for Mexico." Meanwhile, Jesus Seade Kuri, a former WTO deputy director and former member of the IMF that was elected by Lopez Obrador to lead the NAFTA negotiations, agrees with the position of the current Mexican negotiating team, led by Idelfonso Guajardo, on complex issues, such as rules of origin and dispute resolution.
Trump did not miss the opportunity to criticize NAFTA on the same day that Canada began charging tariffs on US goods worth 12.6 billion dollars in retaliation for tariffs imposed by Washington.
"I could sign the NAFTA tomorrow, but I'm not happy with it. I want to make it fairer, okay? (...) I want to wait until after the elections to sign it," Trump stated on Fox News but added that he wouldn't mind eliminating the NAFTA.
Many businessmen and world leaders hope - mistakenly - to get Trump to step back from his protectionist policies, which they say are detrimental to economic growth and US relations around the world. Trump is waging commercial battles with Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and China and will continue to do so until the current world order is on the verge of collapse.
Source: Washington Post - Marco Trade News Editorial