President Donald Trump, who brags about being such a great dealmaker, has entered into a new bilateral trade agreement with Mexico that's terrible for the United States and worse than the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to American businessmen and his political allies.
Trump despises NAFTA and entered into bilateral talks with Mexico to produce a deal for the USA that would create more jobs and business opportunities for Americans. He got neither from the agreement with Mexico.
On the surface, the agreement will modify a number of NAFTA trade rules dealing with cars, intellectual property, agriculture, and many others. American experts that have read the new agreement and who were cited by media attacked the new accord as utterly unfavorable to the USA and expressed surprise as to why Trump approved of it at all.
Trump announced the agreement on Monday, casting it as a done deal to replace NAFTA, which the deal doesn't. This deliberate obfuscation by Trump adds to the confusion surrounding this non-binding agreement.
Mexico and the United States on Monday reached an agreement -- and not a formal deal -- about how to resolve key issues in their trade relationship as part of talks seeking to amend NAFTA. This result was confirmed by the U.S. Trade Representative's office, which officially described the agreement with Mexico as a preliminary agreement in principle that seeks to update the 24-year-old NAFTA with modern provisions representing the 21st century.
Mexico also confirmed it isn't abandoning NAFTA and awaits Canada to join it in facing off against the United States. A number of trade experts believe the administration's loud noise about a possible bilateral deal with Mexico is only an attempt to pressure Canada into a swift agreement on revising NAFTA.
Discussions with Canada this week will determine the fate of the agreement with Mexico. All indications point to Canada refusing to cut a deal with the U.S., in effect affirming its support for the NAFTA negotiations as they stand.
A number of the president's allies have said the Mexico accord isn't a good agreement, but it's better than the U.S. totally abandoning NAFTA. Most Republican critics of the Mexico agreement were dismayed by the increased regulatory burden imposed by the mew automobile rules and higher product costs due to the stronger labor protections of Mexican workers who will be paid much higher salaries under the agreement.
The agreement will also increase the U.S. government's role in the economy and will prevent companies from operating more efficiently due to the added regulatory burdens.
The Business Roundtable, a lobbying group consisting of American CEOs, insists that any final agreement with Mexico and Canada should expand trade, not restrict it. It also has concerns the agreement will weaken investment protections and prevent access to dispute settlement procedures.
The Wall Street Journal, which is pro-right-wing, said: "on the public evidence so far, this new deal is worse (than NAFTA)."
Bloomberg said if the modified agreement with Mexico is the best Trump can do, "it would have been less disruptive, and better for the US economy, to have left (NAFTA) well enough alone." Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NB) said there's reason to worry this might be a step backward from NAFTA for American families.
