Nafta Architects Warn About Ending Trade Between Partners

March 28, 2017 Share Print 0

An atomic bomb. Disastrous. A nightmare scenario. Tragic. Absolutely destructive.

These were the dire words used by three of the original negotiators of NAFTA to describe what would happen if the deal was thrown out and protectionist trade policies ruled.

NAFTA is the trade deal between U.S., Canada and Mexico that’s under siege from President Trump. He has threatened to rip up NAFTA if a new deal can’t be reached from renegotiating it.

The three original negotiators see the global economic and security order at risk if the Trump threats of tariffs and protectionism become reality — and other countries adopt the same policies in retaliation.

Protectionism “is an atomic bomb for trade,” said Jaime Serra Puche, Mexico’s former secretary of trade and industry. On ending NAFTA: “We will be shooting ourselves in the foot as a region.”

The sentiment was echoed by Carla Hills, former U.S. trade representative under President George H.W. Bush: “If we cut off our neighbors, we’re cutting ourselves.”

via CNN

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.