Fair Deal or Out
Trump Says ‘Canada Will Be Out’ Without ‘Fair Deal’ on Nafta
>Mr. Trump’s warning on Saturday comes a day after U.S. and Canadian negotiators failed to reach an agreement on Friday, a deadline he set, to revamp the trade deal that includes Mexico. The two sides have agreed to continue the trade talks.
>While the president does have the power to terminate the pact, with six months’ notice, it isn’t clear if such a decision could withstand legal challenges, of which there would likely be many.
>And lawmakers and business groups whose support has usually been vital for passage of trade pacts have made clear that a bilateral trade deal that excludes Canada would face an uphill battle for the required congressional ratification.
>Four days of marathon talks ended with significant differences remaining between the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Trump said he still planned to stick with the timetable he laid out earlier this week to sign a new pact in late November to replace the three-nation accord, which on Saturday he described as “one of the WORST Trade Deals ever made.”
>Mr. Trump’s statement that “Congress should not interfere” with the Nafta talks is likely to provoke bipartisan consternation on Capitol Hill.
>The battle over the balance of power in trade policy will be particularly intense if Mr. Trump tries to proceed with a new Nafta that excludes Canada. Lawmakers from both parties have over the past week warned that if he does so, they would make the required congressional ratification all but impossible, effectively killing it.
Fair Deal Proposal
I can write a fair deal in one sentence: “Effective immediately, all tariffs and all subsidies, on all goods and services are abolished.”
That’s fair. Trump would not want it.
The EU offered to abolish all tariffs on US cars if the US would do the same. Trump refused.
Despite his bluster, Trump does not support free trade. Once again, I offer this statement: Dear Donald Trump, Please Prove Me Wrong.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Funny how Canada, the EU and China didn’t offer the Mish “free and fair trade deal” while we had with “roll over and play dead” Bush, Clinton and Obama in the White House. They were more than happy to take advantage of our idiot leaders. And not a peep from Mish.
And now we have a president who is actually is putting America first. The grifters in Canada are screaming. And Mish is upset.
Why? We are getting better trade terms offers NOW than in the last 25+ years.
What changed? Why are we suddenly getting better offers?
And why wouldn’t Mish be happy about that?
I think he’s agreeing to that but, the point that he’s making is that what happens if Canada agrees? Would we reciprocate? The EU case proved otherwise…
I think Mish has been consistent in a more unadulterated form of capitalism. I am not sure if you share that sentiment however.
President Trump may have refused the offers because we need some products produced in the USA for national security reasons. I would be stupid not to protect yourself from no supply during troubling times. Mish, use both sides of your brain for thinking , not just one.
Fully agree, Mish — bilateral (emphasis — both sides) elimination of all tariffs and subsidies is (part of) the real definition of “Free Trade”. Interesting that all the usual suspects have gone along for several decades with the pretense that NAFTA was a free trade agreement rather than a bureaucratic make-work program for lawyers and lobbyists.
The rest of real Free Trade is the elimination of non-tariff barriers — and that could be much more difficult.
US milk dropped to 78 cents per gallon this week after Canada imposed their tariffs on our dairy. Remember the 70’s when milk producers were dumping milk down the sewers in town?
Maybe the US should stop subsidizing overproduction of milk and dairy, the same policy they have in the EU, also problems with overproduction. Not to mention ethanol and all the other agricultural subsidies.