The Pros And Cons Of Donald Trump

One of the main reasons that Donald Trump won the election was due to his popularity among the working class, especially with blue-collar workers in the ‘rust-belt’ states. These citizens, both Republican and Democrats alike, chose Trump due to his favorable stance on free trade – protectionist policies to protect the American worker. Now, with him becoming the President-elect, it is expected that he will follow through on his plans to renegotiate trade deals, a major one being with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This trade agreement was passed with bipartisan congressional support in 1993 and subsequently signed into effect by President Clinton in 1994. The Wall Street Journal article, “Donald Trump Poised to Pressure Mexico

One main reason for this, as the article points out, is the trade deficit. “The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico rose 9.5% in 2015 to $60.7 billion...”(Mauldin) A visual chart provided in the article also shows the U.S.’s trade deficit increasing each year since its founding. To counter this, President-elect Trump plans to enact “across-the-board, double-digit tariffs” (Mauldin) on imports coming from Mexico. He also plans to implement other strict barriers for imports such as increased taxes on companies that leave America for Mexico, which is strongly supported by House Republicans. The NAFTA provision, the ‘international arbitration system’ will also most likely be repealed. On another side, as CNN reported, “Mr. Trump is set to ask government officials to examine the ramifications of abandoning NAFTA.”(Mauldin) The article points out that this move could negatively affect numerous businesses, and quite detrimental to Mexico’s

But where the differences begin is with the tariffs – “We can’t get lost in an old debate about traditional tariffs,” (Mauldin) the Mexican Economy Minster said. The trade minister when NAFTA was originally negotiated, Jaime Serra, also disagrees and believes export quotas should be off the table. It is clear that import tariffs will spur a great deal of debate when NAFTA is renegotiated in 2017. As the article notes, the U.S. president does have the right to levy emergency tariffs, as given by congress. This, however could be challenged by the World Trade Organization. The other country in NAFTA, Canada, has said it will also pursue trade advantages with Mexico when NAFTA is renegotiated. The article explains that a NAFTA withdrawal by the U.S. “would likely bring up thorny issues that have long dogged relations, including softwood lumber imports from British Columbia” (Mauldin) as well as Canadian cattle which are raised for the U.S beef