NAFTA Leaders Meet to Wring Hands over the TPP

By Crista Huff

President Obama met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa, Ontario yesterday. Considering that the three countries are trading partners within the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, it was important for President Obama to reassure his counterparts in national leadership that these trade agreements are not in danger of being nullified by Congress, nor by POTUS candidates.

World leaders have legitimate reasons to fear a Congressional “NO” vote on TPP ratification - a vote that’s currently planned for this year’s lame duck session of Congress. All major POTUS candidates have expressed opposition to the trade agreement. The frustration of the citizenry in the U.K. with its political leadership, as reflected in last week’s Brexit vote, has only served to embolden anti-TPP factions.

President Obama made sure to twist the anti-TPP point of view, to make it sound economically foolish, saying, “The prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing solely on your local market, that’s the wrong medicine.” [more...]