Statement: Roosevelt Fellow Responds to Preliminary Trade Deal between U.S. and Mexico
A statement from Dr. Todd N. Tucker, Political Scientist and Fellow at Roosevelt Institute, and author of Judge Knot, a book on dispute settlement in NAFTA and other trade deals.
New York, NY—Statement of Dr. Todd N. Tucker, Political Scientist and Fellow at Roosevelt Institute, and author of Judge Knot, a book on dispute settlement in NAFTA and other trade deals:
“Today’s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) announcement by the U.S. and Mexico tells us little about the ultimate shape of any renegotiation, as many issues are not yet resolved and neither Canada nor Congress have agreed to any new deal. Wait many more days, and Mexico’s new incoming progressive government may veto the deal; wait many more weeks, and a new class of Democrats in the House might do the same.
But even with what we know now, this deal is a handout to favored industries more than a plan to make America’s middle classes great again.
For instance, news reports indicate that the Trump administration will turn NAFTA’s dispute settlement procedures into a privileged forum for Big Oil and Big Gas. Earlier this year, Trump administration trade representative Robert Lighthizer described these procedures as but handouts to big companies afraid of leftward progressive change in Mexico ahead of Mexican elections. Now that Lopez Obrador has won the election and promised change, especially for the energy sector, the Trump administration is giving energy companies exactly what it warned about. This is hardly an auspicious beginning to the reset with the Mexican government that the U.S. needs to make right now, after years of racist commentary by U.S. political leadership.”
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