NAFTA Renegotiation Topic

Javad Zarif linked the NAFTA scrap to the one involving his country in an interview that aired Sunday: "This administration is withdrawing from everything. Somebody called it the, 'Withdrawal Doctrine,' for this administration. It's withdrawing from NAFTA. It's withdrawing from Trans Pacific Partnership. It's withdrawing from UNESCO," Zarif said in a CBS interview.

"So people cannot trust anymore the word of the United States. You see, in order to bring United States on board for many of these international agreements, a lot of people make a lot of concessions. Now nobody is going to make any concessions to the United States because they know that the next U.S. president will come back and say, 'It wasn't enough."'

The Canadian and Mexican governments intend to sit through the storm.

They say there are no plans to walk out, or make aggressive counter-demands, like pushing their own non-starters — such as free trade in softwood lumber. They say they're better off working patiently.

Officials do profess to being perplexed about Trump's goal.

Trump knows nothing about making deals. He's always been about bullying, intimidation and scamming others. He's a grifter and a shyster.

At the moment NAFTA is being renegotiated not scrapped but, if it is scrapped it will likely be replaced with something different and quite possibly even more equitable. As for UNESCO well, that has turned into nothing more than the anti Israel wing of the UN and until they throw the vermin who are running it out and turn it back into what it was created for I can't see why the US should be vilified for not funding direct attacks on an ally.

Interesting and you're right Doc Trumps mark will rightly or wrongly be felt for years to come but, the fact remains that alot of Canadians who are all over Trump for either renegotiating or pulling out of these pacts with other countries and UN agencies are silent when our leader does the same thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau ... -1.3390745

At the moment NAFTA is being renegotiated not scrapped but, if it is scrapped it will likely be replaced with something different and quite possibly even more equitable.

As for the TPP, I for one would have liked to see how far it would have gone because if you believe the "glass half full" crowd it would have benefited all countries, raised their GDP and forced to China to raise their standards to the level of the other TPP partners.

Then again if the "glass is half empty crowd" was right it would only have benefited the rich and favoured corporations over their workers but, without the US's participation the pact is pretty much a non starter which is to bad since I for one would have liked to see which side was right because as a Trade agreement it could have been renegotiated at some future point if a country felt it wasn't beneficial.

Oh wait. ROTFL

TBH All I'm hearing is alot of bitching from the people, organizations and country's who's income, lifestyle or political beliefs will be severely affected by the sudden lack of American commitment and money.

The U.S. has introduced aggressive demands in virtually every major NAFTA area:

Auto parts. The U.S. wants all cars to comprise 50 per cent U.S. content to avoid a tariff. The U.S. has requested this policy be phased in within one year _ which automakers call impossible.
Dispute-resolution. The U.S. wants to gut the enforcement systems of NAFTA, making the panels for Chapter 11, 19 and 20 disputes either non-binding, or voluntary.
Buy American. The U.S. wants to severely curb other countries’ access to public works contracts.
Sunset clause. The U.S. has requested a termination clause that would end NAFTA after five years, unless all parties agree to extend the agreement.
The supply management request follows an earlier request for a de-facto veto over Canadian milk-classification decisions, which in the case of diafiltered cheese-making products has advantaged Canadian producers.