Sicilianthing

For those who have ZERO Clue why and how NAFTA came to be and what it's really designed for - I dont' have the time nor the patience to educate you on it...

Trump has no clue who authored it, how long ago and why it was devised as a prelude for what's to come, and now he has betrayed you and wants to repackage it and keep it going - WARNING !


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


By The Editors
David Shipley

July 19, 2017

President Donald Trump has made a welcome retreat from his threats to scrap "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere." His administration's plan for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, released this week, is surprisingly benign.

Granted, the administration's declared purpose for those talks -- to reduce the U.S. trade deficit -- highlights its weak grasp of basic economics. The U.S. current-account deficit follows as a matter of arithmetic from the imbalance between the country's saving and investment. Unless the U.S. starts saving more or investing less, that deficit won't decline -- regardless of this or any other trade agreement.

The right way to judge trade deals is to ask instead whether they promote competition and efficiency for all participants. Nafta has met that test, so there's something to lose by meddling with it. Yet the agreement isn't beyond improvement. Despite the misconception that underlies the administration's whole approach, some good might even come of the approaching talks.

For instance, the administration wants to strengthen the pact's labor and environmental standards, and to improve protection of U.S. intellectual property. Maybe those ideas sound familiar: They were main elements of the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated by the previous administration and then abandoned by Congress. Changes along those lines, cautiously implemented, could serve to modernize Nafta and better equip it for modern trading conditions and new kinds of trade.

Clear thinking from leading voices in business, economics, politics, foreign affairs, culture, and more.

The administration also wants to introduce formal safeguards against currency manipulation, so countries can take action against partners that are holding down the value of their currency to boost exports. The issue is irrelevant in North America (nobody is accusing anybody else of being a currency manipulator) but U.S. officials apparently want to set a precedent for future deals. That's all right. Currency manipulation can indeed be a problem -- as it once was with China -- and measures to regulate it would be helpful.

Some of the administration's other ideas are more threatening. The administration wants to weaken the dispute-settlement procedure that gives Canada and Mexico a way to block proposed U.S. trade sanctions. Any such reform would also weaken U.S. rights in challenging Canadian or Mexican sanctions. Effective dispute settlement helps to stop trade disagreements from escalating.

The U.S. also wants to retain, and maybe strengthen, rules that allow different levels of government to prefer local over foreign producers. That's a pity. The benefits of trade accrue to the public and private sector alike. Do you want it done cheaper and better? Let trade do its job.

Overall, it's telling that Canadian and Mexican officials seem unfazed by the proposals, and that Democrats in Congress are attacking them for failing to say more precisely how they'll actually suppress trade. Consider that a valuable endorsement. Trump's theory of trade is wrong, but his Nafta strategy isn't.

(Corrects title of trade agreement in first paragraph.)
To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View’s editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net .

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

One will have to come to understand that trump is a "concept guy", i.e., he thinks up slogans and schemes - and finds someone else to work out the details. Trump does not have the capacity (or the discipline) to sit down and pour over fact sheets, read lengthy trade deals, legislation or anything else. If it's not covered on cable, he's not interested. His signature campaign points were not thought of by him, nor did he spend any time thinking them through, or considering the details of any of them...they were just designed to get people riled up and vote for him. Anyone thinking that he ever seriously intended to follow through on any of them, or was remotely interested in doing the work necessary to accomplish that goal - wasn't paying attention.

Trump is lazy and uninformed. The reason Trump is so fixated on loyalty ( to him personally, much like Hitler ), is because he knows HE doesn't have the wherewithal to accomplish anything, relying on everyone else to make his "dreams" come true. Trumps business failures out number his successes, and his successes have always come at the expense of someone else, and in this case - the expense will be paid by the American people....and it will be massively expensive.

Sicilianthing

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You have valid points and although I still support HIm and I did from day 1 over Hilarious Bitch Witch Murderer, I've always kept my distance and held reservations that Trump by no fault of his own will bring us to Occupy Washington because he will expose everyone there and show America who's to blame on both sides and how it's all done.

So let it continue on it's trajectory, I've gambled right and we'll just keep preparing for Plan B ...

All my brothers in arms out there reading and watching - I see you...I hear you, you are not alone, remember the plan and get ready.