US launches NAFTA renegotiation countdown

The Trump administration on May 18 launched a 90-day countdown to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, part of its aggressive stance towards trade that it charges has hurt U.S. workers.

That combative posture was underscored just two hours later when the Commerce Department followed the news with the announcement of a new trade investigation against aircraft produced by NAFTA partner Canada, saying they receive unfair subsidies.

That follows on the heels of disputes with Canada over lumber imports and dairy exports, and with Mexico over sugar imports, just a small sample of the many trade disputes announced in the last three months.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday with the NAFTA announcement "we intend to notify not just Congress, but all our trading partners, that free and fair trade is the new standard for U.S. trade deals."  
   
"Since the signing of NAFTA, we have seen our manufacturing industry decimated, factories shuttered, and countless workers left jobless," Ross said. 

"President (Donald) Trump is going to change that."   

During the campaign, Trump vowed to withdraw from NAFTA, saying it was a disaster for U.S. workers. His repeated complaints that bad trade deals destroy American jobs gained him support among working class voters, who helped lift him to the White House.

But Trump backed away from the threat after Canadian and Mexican officials urged Washington to renegotiate and modernize -- rather than scrap -- the trade pact, which has boosted industry and created tight manufacturing, agriculture and business links throughout the region.

Newly-installed US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally notified Congress of the intent to revamp the...