Civic Register
| 4.27.17

Trump to Renegotiate NAFTA With Trade Partners Canada & Mexico

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President Donald Trump received calls Wednesday from the leaders of Canada and Mexico following rumblings of an upcoming executive order that would withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), who convinced him to renegotiate rather than abandon the trade pact.

Wednesday night, the White House released a statement from the president in which Trump said "It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up-to-date, I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better." While this would fulfill a campaign pledge Trump made to improve or leave NAFTA, to make it happen he needs Congress to grant him “fast-track” trade promotion authority — which forces Congress to vote on a trade deal as presented to them by negotiators without further amending it.

The good news for White House is that they may find bipartisan support in Congress for the fast-track. Former President Barack Obama managed to get a Republican-controlled Congress to grant him trade promotion authority for the negotiation of the ill-fated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in June 2015.

Trump’s desire to renegotiate NAFTA will likely appeal to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And his willingness to leave the trade pact is similar to the attitude taken in a resolution introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), which lays out specific elements that must be included in an updated NAFTA and encourages the president to consider withdrawing the U.S. if they’re not.

Click the image above to read and vote on Rep. DeFazio’s resolution, or use the "Take Action" button to tell your lawmakers what you think about NAFTA.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: AlexCovarrubias via Wikipedia / Creative Commons)