Trump renews threat to scrap NAFTA going into next round of talks

[webfact]

Trump renews threat to scrap NAFTA going into next round of talks

 

Union workers and farmers protest as NAFTA renegotiation begins in Washington, D.C., in Mexico City, Mexico August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threat to scrap NAFTA and ripped on trading partners Canada and Mexico in a tweet early on Sunday, days before the three countries were scheduled to hold a second round of negotiations on rewriting the 23-year-old agreement.

 

"We are in the NAFTA (worst trade deal ever made) renegotiation process with Mexico & Canada. Both being very difficult, may have to terminate?" he wrote.

 

Trump, a Republican, promised during his campaign to overhaul or eliminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he cast as killing jobs and exacerbating the U.S. deficit, and to adopt a more protectionist stance for trade generally.

 

The first five-day round of talks between the three countries concluded last Sunday, with all sides committing to follow an accelerated process in revamping the agreement, which was originally signed by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat whose wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ran against Trump in the 2016 election.

 

Going into the five-day round of negotiations starting Sept. 1 in Mexico, Trump has kept the heat turned up. Both Mexico and Canada have dismissed his musing in a Tuesday speech that "we'll end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point" as a negotiating tactic.

 

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-28

[boomerangutang]

Nafta affects mucho people.   Trump should get smarter people than himself (that's pretty much everyone else) to look closely at the details, and find what needs improvement.  Already, Iowa corn farmers, for example, are pissed off at Trump for him wanting to trash NAFTA.   That's just one small portion of former Trump supporters who are getting shafted.  There are others.

[tonray]

Not to mention a precipitous drop in GDP should he be so stupid. He is very transparent in his dealings which leaves the US at a disadvantage to foreoign powers because they see he applies the very simplistic 'ask for the moon and settle for a free trip to Cleveland' tactic he outlines in "The Art of the Deal'.

 

 

He is not a very strategic thinker and if not for the economic clout we have in sheer size, we would be toast with him as chief negotiator.

[boomerangutang]

NAFTA also addresses environmental standards, plus fairness to workers (minimum wage, abuse issues, etc) at the bottom rungs of the social ladder - two issues which Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about.

[darksidedog]

10 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

NAFTA also addresses environmental standards, plus fairness to workers (minimum wage, abuse issues, etc) at the bottom rungs of the social ladder - two issues which Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about.

I wasn't aware Trump gave a rats ass about anything other than profit at all costs and his own ego. I am sure the negotiators for Canada and Mexico are rubbing their hands together with glee at having such a transparent imbecile to deal with.

[tonray]

28 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

I wasn't aware Trump gave a rats ass about anything other than profit at all costs and his own ego. I am sure the negotiators for Canada and Mexico are rubbing their hands together with glee at having such a transparent imbecile to deal with.

I'm waiting for the ultimatum to Mexico: pay for the wall or we are out of NAFTA"

 

 

Mexico: "Go F..... yourself Donald"

[PeCeDe]

There are elements of the NAFTA that both sides would like to see gone, Canada's protection of dairy farmers to just name one, protection of just this one industry costs Canadian consumers big time with milk coming in at almost twice the US cost. Canadians would love to see just about any real competition instead of the good ole boy monopolies abounding in the Great White North. I really dislike Trump but he could be about to do Canuck consumers proud... despite himself!

[tonray]

5 minutes ago, PeCeDe said:

There are elements of the NAFTA that both sides would like to see gone, Canada's protection of dairy farmers to just name one, protection of just this one industry costs Canadian consumers big time with milk coming in at almost twice the US cost. Canadians would love to see just about any real competition instead of the good ole boy monopolies abounding in the Great White North. I really dislike Trump but he could be about to do Canuck consumers proud... despite himself!

 

MCGA: Making Canada Great Again...who would have thunk it !

[Jingthing]

What a moron!?!

 

 

[PeCeDe]

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

What a moron!?!

 

 

Love the tweets.

[Dumbastheycome]

Fascinating !  Is  this a  man  who is  being  puppeted ? Are there people   pulling  his  strings or does  he  just pull himself?

"Make  America  Great" or   "Prima  Donna  Corp" ?

Alienation  or  Alien Nation? Either  way  is not positive.

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Fascinating !  Is  this a  man  who is  being  puppeted ? Are there people   pulling  his  strings or does  he  just pull himself?

"Make  America  Great" or   "Prima  Donna  Corp" ?

Alienation  or  Alien Nation? Either  way  is not positive.

He's a greater threat to the USA than many a foreign enemy. The USA is being tested. Get him out and we pass the test. If not ... 

[Dumbastheycome]

Just now, Jingthing said:

He's a greater threat to the USA than many a foreign enemy. The USA is being tested. Get him out and we pass the test. If not ... 

It is  the  "if  not" that is  the   common  enemy." Reap  what  is  sowed" can involve  contamination  that goes   far  beyond  the  local  area! 

[Stargeezr]

Trump is like the bully rich kid in a sand box and he wants to take

all the toys home as he cannot get his way, as he wants to. Typical of the Donald.

Geezer

[wanderluster]

as a canadian i say rip up nafta as well. the americans got way too much out of that deal. they steal our fish they steal ou lumber they steal our water.   i say divert our rivers to the oceans and let them have no water or power. see how they like that. no fishing boats or oil tankers can pass in our sovereign waters, make them go around in international waters. i know our goverment has no balls and am sure trump will take advantage of that, but it pisses me off that i have to make this rant. sorry.

[ilostmypassword]

Canada Reportedly Wants the U.S. to Scrap Its Right-to-Work Laws as Part of a New NAFTA Deal

Canadians are apparently sick of competing with nonunionized foreign workers South of the border. According to the Globe & Mail, the country’s negotiating team is asking the United States to scrap its anti-union right-to-work laws as part of an updated North American Free Trade Agreement, presumably in order to prevent poorly paid Americans from undercutting organized Canadian labor on wages. Obviously, this is not what the Trump administration had in mind when it demanded our neighbors return to NAFTA’s negotiating table.

https://slate.com/business/2017/09/canada-wants-the-u-s-to-scrap-its-right-to-work-laws.html

 

Given Trump's sincere concern for the American worker, I'm sure he'll have no problem acceding to this demand.