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AmericasFebruary 27 2017

Nafta: trade wars, trade hopes

Consternation has greeted US president Donald Trump’s protectionist trade agenda, but it might yet have some surprising benefits.
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At the intersection of US president Donald Trump’s key wants – boosting US manufacturing jobs and slashing immigration considered dangerous for one reason or another – stands trade. The harshest implementation of his ‘America first’ manifesto would hit Mexico as well as Latin America with great force and potentially long-lasting effects. Not all may be negative, however.

Mr Trump has called for a reworking of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) between the US, Mexico and Canada. Washington is expected to demand new terms so as to dissuade US businesses from moving plants abroad and turn the current US trade deficit with Mexico – now at about $60bn – into a surplus. Should demands not be met, Mr Trump is promising to walk away from the 23-year-old deal. Indeed, some believe Nafta will be history by 2018.

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