New NAFTA has good, bad news; Trump likely to mistakenly oversell it, trade law expert says


LAWRENCE — Trade officials have announced Canada made a last-minute agreement to join the United States and Mexico in a revamped version of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The announcement means the 25-year-old NAFTA deal will be kept in place, though with new terms, and that Canada will not be left out of the agreement the other two nations agreed to last month.

The deal, called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, brings a host of new terms and conditions to trade among the three countries, including opening Canada further to American dairy products, which President Donald Trump vigorously sought. The conditions were seen as more favorable to the United States than what was included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump pulled the U.S. from. The agreement is a major development in trade and in Trump’s ongoing push to address trade deficits with other nations, according to international trade law expert Raj Bhala of the University of Kansas.

“The new NAFTA makes major changes affecting trade in autos, steel and dairy, IP protection, labor rights and dispute settlement. That’s the good news. The bad news is the new deal is less significant than the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Bhala said. “Ironically, expect the Trump administration to make the same mistake the Clinton administration did with the original NAFTA — oversell it to the public.”

Bhala, Brenneisen Distinguished Professor at the KU School of Law, is available to discuss the new deal with media. He can address the new agreement, previous NAFTA deal, Congress’ role in ratifying the new deal, trade among the three nations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, terms and conditions of the agreement, and related topics.

An international expert in trade law, Bhala has worked extensively in the three nations and more than 25 countries around the world. He has written dozens of scholarly articles and books on international free trade, including “TPP Objectively: Law, Economics, and National Security of History’s Largest, Longest Free Trade Agreement,” “Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a) and the textbook “International Trade Law,” an acclaimed two-volume treatise. He practiced international banking law at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before entering academia and has lectured around the globe.

To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or mkrings@ku.edu.

Mon, 10/01/2018

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Mike Krings

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