On Wednesday, President Trump said that he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Pena Nieto where they agreed to renegotiate the NAFTA agreement. NAFTA is an agreement that was put together during the Clinton administration, which set up a trading deal between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to get rid of NAFTA entirely. It was said that this week he was going to sign another executive order to do so, but his recent announcement to renegotiate it instead appears to be another defeat in a week full of defeats that are going in the wrong direction of his agenda.
Easily convinced by neighboring leaders
President Trump made this announcement a day before he met his first 100-days marker in the Oval Office. During the week, the Trump administration had been scrambling to show their accomplishments in fulfilling his campaign promises. His reversal on getting rid of the trade agreement adds to another list of promises he was unable to keep before his 100-days such as repealing Obamacare and getting funding for his border wall.
Both Pena Nieto and Justin Trudeau reportedly convinced the President to renegotiate the agreement rather than get rid of it entirely. With many agreeing that there are problems with NAFTA and that ending the trade deal could have some positive effects later down the line, its been largely argued that those who have relied on the agreement since its been put into place would suffer from its removal.
Opposition, trade issues, misinformed
Blasting News reported on some of the drama developing between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico over trade, with the administration slapping Canada with tariffs. As for any support for Trump's effort to get rid of NAFTA, some Republicans such as Sen. Ben Sasse said that getting rid of it would be a "disastrously bad idea." Many have said that Trump is starting a trade war and Sen.
John McCain said it would be devastating for his state. Much of Trump's effort to kill the deal is over his belief that it's forcing jobs to open up across the border.
Before and since Donald Trump has been president, he has relied on misinformation to drive his agenda, such as the belief that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton last year, giving her the popular vote.
And so it's likely he would have similar information to make him target NAFTA. But in 2015, research revealed that the trade deal was not the reason why jobs were going across the border and that NAFTA has a minor impact on the U.S. economy. Its been stated that 14 million jobs depend on the trade agreement. Trump also promised that if they were still unable to negotiate the agreement, he would go ahead and kill it.
