In his first days as president, Donald Trump made good on one facet of his promise to overhaul American trade policy by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a key trade deal negotiated by the Obama administration. In doing so, he made it clear that this would be just the first in a series of aggressive moves meant to bolster U.S. competitiveness on the world stage.

The next trade pact in Trump's sights is NAFTA. Although it is the centerpiece of commerce among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, renegotiation of NAFTA was a key theme of Trump's candidacy and a central point of discussion when the president met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week.

While highly unlikely to be scrapped entirely, NAFTA will probably have its terms redrawn to align more closely with U.S. economic interests. For example, observers expect Trump to push for U.S. corporate tax rates to be cut to spur investment at home. At the same time, reports suggest that U.S. manufacturers who ship to Mexico will be hit with an average tariff on industrial goods of 7.7 percent. In every case, as publicized, a renegotiated NAFTA is part of the new administration's plan to bring employment opportunities back to the country. This could also make way for other trade agreements that lean toward putting the United States in a more advantageous position.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
  • Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world cas studies, and other critical content
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.