Trump demands for NAFTA renegotiation risk triggering more protectionist moves worldwide, professor says


LAWRENCE — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that instead of terminating NAFTA as he had previously threatened, the agreement could stay and that a renegotiation process would begin immediately. The landmark free-trade agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico was a major point in the presidential campaign, with Trump repeatedly disparaging the agreement as unfair to the U.S. The president reportedly spoke with both President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada about the deal Wednesday night.

Raj Bhala, an expert on international trade law and global trade, is available to speak with media about NAFTA, Trump’s rhetoric on the topic, renegotiation of the deal, the original agreement, its effects on the three participating countries and related topics. Bhala, associate dean for international & comparative law and Rice Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law, has studied NAFTA since its inception and written extensively on other free-trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, from which the United States recently withdrew.

“NAFTA has become a pillar of the American economy and stands as one of the broadest, deepest free-trade agreements in human history. One way to appreciate its significance is to see it in the light of the long, uneasy history of U.S.-Mexican relations and swings in Mexican economy policy through much of the 20th century. Another, 21st century, way to think about NAFTA is to realize that America, Canada and Mexico already spent eight years rewriting and modernizing it – it’s called TPP. Unilateral threats of withdrawal or demands for renegotiations risk triggering yet more protectionist moves across the globe.”

Bhala has worked extensively in all three NAFTA nations and more than 25 countries around the world, including a majority of the TPP member nations. He has a global reputation for scholarship in international trade law and has authored dozens of journal articles and books including, “TPP Objectively: Law, Economics, and National Security of History’s Largest, Longest Free Trade Agreement,” “Modern GATT Law” and “Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a).” He has practiced international banking law at the Federal Reserve of New York before entering academia and currently serves as a legal consultant to Cheniere Energy and other prominent organizations and firms.

Thu, 04/27/2017

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Mike Krings

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