Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Trump Withdraws from NAFTA by Elizabeth B.


Trump has recently announced that he will inform Canada and Mexico that he is withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in six months. His intention with this is that Congress will approve his new trade deal with the two U.S. neighbors. Trump made this remark about NAFTA, “It’s been a disaster for the United States.” Many see Trump’s withdraw from the NAFTA deal as a threat to pass his new deal. Some believe he does not believe his new deal is not popular enough to be approved on its own and he felt he needed to threaten Congress.

Trump’s deal contains new provisions on digital trade and strengthens intellectual property rights protections. Some support the deal because they believe it will contain some of the same ideas as the original. House Democrats are concerned mainly with the labor and environmental provisions. Now the legal question that may arise with the withdraw is if Trump is has this kind of ability to interfere with the constitutional authority of Congress to set tariffs and “regulate commerce with foreign nations.” Trump’s new deal will impact how the nation trades with other nations and ultimately affect the power that a president has on trade for the United States.

Do you think this withdraw gives President Trump too much power? Do you think the new deal will benefit the United States?

4 comments:

  1. I figure that Trump's decision to end NAFTA probably is a threat to Congress to approve the new deal. Due to the partisan voting tendencies of our current Congress, it can be assumed that almost every Democrat in Congress will oppose the deal whether it's actually good or not. Even still, several Republicans may oppose the deal as well, so I bet Trump is concerned about the deal making it through.

    Regardless, a very important point is brought up here--is it the president's job to do this? It is the legislature's job to "regulate commerce with foreign nations" according to the Constitution, which says nothing about the president having authority in that regard. Even in the case of the president making treaties, the Constitution states that two thirds of the Senate must concur with the president. Regardless of whether or not a person may agree with Trump's trade decisions, isn't that Congress's job? Why do I not remember hearing anyone make this point before?

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  2. It seems that President Trump's only tactic to produce end results in his favor is to threaten Congress. I do not think America should pull out of NAFTA, and I certainty do not think the decision should be decided at the whim of the President. Hopefully Trump knows what he is doing, and his plan will work out for the best of the United States.

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  3. The withdrawal from NAFTA is an awful idea that should most certainly not be decided by Trump alone. This could mean terrible things for America and other countries involved. If this does actually happen, I hope in works out in favor of the United States as this country has suffered so much in Trump's presidency.

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  4. After reading this blog and also the blog on the Mexican-American border, I feel as though Trump is applying his cutthroat business persona (threatening to shut down the government and end NAFTA) to his political career. I think this tactic is sure to anger many. While this could produce his desired results, it's questionable as to if a deal made through threats will actually be what's best for all Americans. Because Trump has to have Congress' permission to withdraw from NAFTA, he is not given too much power. I hope that there is time to have the deal perfected and revised before NAFTA is officially ended. From what little I have heard about this deal, I actually do like the provisions that intend to limit outsourcing and the provisions that protect workers' rights.

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