TPT March 2018

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

Mr Trump has threatened to withdraw the US from NAFTA. But the Republican lawmakers fear that altering trade relations with Canada and Mexico too drastically could rattle the economy and wipe out the stimulative punch of the tax-cut package Mr Trump signed into law in December. Texas, for example, relies heavily on trade with Mexico. According to the International Trade Administration, it exported $92bn in goods to Mexico in 2016. Secondly, the lawmakers point to a lack of progress in negotiating the bilateral trade agreements with Pacific Rim countries that Mr Trump promised after pulling the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in January last year. The Trade Promotion Authority law (TPA) gives the administration authority to negotiate on trade deals. And it gives Congress the authority to review any proposed US trade agreement and decide whether or not it will be implemented. But no trade deals are in prospect. › The current stasis that worries the Republican senators is, as noted by The Hill , very much at variance with early signals from team Trump to lawmakers and the media: that the administration would have new deals in place very quickly. A Trump transition adviser told Reuters in January 2016, “You will be shocked by the speed at which bilateral agreements begin to materialise.”

Tr ade Lawmakers of President Donald Trump’s par ty grow exasperated over lack of progress on bilateral trade agreements “I’ve always said I’m happy to have another administration negotiate better trade deals,” Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told The Hill , a Washington-based website that covers the US Congress. “But we have to negotiate the trade deals and we’ve got to get moving on it or we’re going to be left behind.” Mr Johnson, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee and also of President Donald Trump’s Republican party, voiced the concerns of Senate Republicans worried about the effect of the president’s trade policy on the US economy. As noted by Alexander Bolton of The Hill , they perceive a lack of clear direction in the Trump trade agenda, which they warn is hurting US exporters. (“Frustration Rises With Trump on Trade,” 26 December) Mr Bolton cited the two major complaints of the lawmakers with the administration. First, they feel it is not listening to feedback from Congress on negotiations with Mexico and Canada over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Dorothy Fabian, Features Editor (USA)

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