Tag Archives: nafta

12/16/19

Understanding US Trade

The last two weeks have been monumental in the arena of trade, but the country was too enmired in the shallow grave of impeachment to really focus on it.

Three things happened:

 1. The USMCA (United States Mexico Canada Agreement) was passed by the United States House of Representatives.

This deal replaces NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and does great things for agriculture with Canada and US product content in goods (cars) whose final assembly is done in Mexico as well as prevailing wages.

 2. The US and China had a first date on trade — nobody is renting reception halls for the marriage, but it was a first step on the crawl, walk, run continuum.

 3. The US neutered the World Trade Organization by refusing to nominate members thereby destroying the quorum and preventing the WTO from taking any action against the US, a brilliant move. This is one that is completely overlooked.

The guy who did this is the man on the right, Robert Lighthizer.

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08/28/18

NAFTA – Rebranding?

Big Red Car here on a cloudy Texas day. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll crack 100F, but it’s a little cloudy today.

So, the big news on trade coming out of Washington and Mexico City is that the US and Mexico have agreed on a “new” trade deal. Have they?

The new deal is a bi-lateral deal between the US and Mexico. Mexico is on the verge of inaugurating a new president (1 December 2018), so the timing is a little dicey. The outgoing Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, will have to obtain approval from the Mexican legislature. He is more likely to be an ally given his long history with the negotiations.

President Trump, reiterating his historic disaffection with NAFTA, has taken to calling this bi-lateral agreement the US-Mexico Trade Agreement.

Image result for images trump trade

“Yeah, so I told you I would re-negotiate NAFTA and, with Mexico, I have. Now, we need to get Canada into the deal. I can do it.”

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