President Trump’s new threat to terminate NAFTA, made during a rally in Phoenix, is a negotiating tactic rather than a serious possibility, said Canadian and Mexican trade officials. “This was always a card we knew the president would likely play . . . it may have been a bit earlier than expected,” a Canadian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, told Mexican television, “He [Trump] is negotiating in his own particular style,” reported Reuters. In Phoenix, Trump renewed his complaint that Canada and Mexico got a better deal than the United States in NAFTA and that he would withdraw from NAFTA if it were not reworked. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer reiterated that position, saying the White House sought “substantial changes to address [NAFTA’s] fundamental failures.”
“Both countries are becoming inured to the president’s nearly constant barrage of threats on trade,” said Politico. “Part of the reason Mexico and Canada might be less intimidated by Trump’s bluster is that they have plenty of other trading partners to fall back on if the relationship with the United States sours. Both countries have separate deals in place with the European Union — Mexico is currently ramping up talks to update theirs — and both are part of the effort to reboot the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the remaining 11 members are pushing toward completion even without the United States.”