Trumpers Conned: NAFTA To Remain Mostly As Is

Reports indicate that the administration of pathological liar and con artist Donald "Rump" Trump are pursuing only modest changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada, a turnaround from his campaign rhetoric to "rip up" U.S. trade agreements. In a draft proposal prepared by the administration's Office of U.S. Trade Representative, Rump's proposal would retain arbitration panels to allow investors in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to circumvent local courts. It would also create major problems for U.S. businesses doing business in Mexico and Canada by pushing "Buy American" purchasing rules.

During the 2016 campaign, Rump railed against NAFTA as a destroyer of U.S. manufacturing jobs, when fact, in the case of Mexico, roughly 5 million U.S. jobs are dependent on exports to Mexico. Rump promised to walk away from the agreement and negotiate a completely new one using his now-discredited "dealmaking" skills, something that his cult followers cheered (along with "build the wall').

Along with his empty promises to immediately repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, this meek approach to NAFTA should signal to his gullible followers that they were had by a demagogic con man...bigly.