Corporate America had to go into full 'all hands on deck' mode to save NAFTA from Trump
Associated Press/Alex Brandon
Scrapping or dramatically renegotiating the decades-old trade agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico was one of Trump's big campaign promises. And, as the WSJ reports, in Trump's desperation to fulfill promises before his administration's 100-day mark, he felt like taking dramatic action and exiting the trade deal.
That's when foreign leaders, members of his own administration, and U.S. executives jumped into action. On heels of reports that Trump would sign an executive order written by the most nationalist elements of his administration - namely Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro - Trump received back to back calls from the Prime Minister of Canada and President of Mexico.
Then came the full court press from home. Agricultural Secretary Sonny Purdue and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly took out a map and showed Trump which states would be negatively impacted if he left NAFTA.
The came the flood of calls from C-suites around the country. One big business group head told his members to "have your CEOs call the highest-ranking administration officials they can reach." The former head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the White House three times.
More and more, it seems Trump and his top advisers seem to be contradicting each other left and right. On Monday, for example, Trump said he may break up big banks. At the same time, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin took credit for bank deregulation.
The NAFTA situation seemed to have a similar quality.
From WSJ's Peter Nicholas, Paul Vieira and José de Córdoba:
One senior Toronto bank executive said Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin -former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives now serving as chairman of the White House National Economic Council and as Treasury Secretary, respectively-have on a few occasions reached out to senior Canadian business officials in recent weeks to counsel them that despite the internal Trump administration divides over trade policies, they expect no significant Nafta changes.
Obviously that's not the message Trump has been sending. The question is who wins out in terms of policy, and whether or not the market has the patience for this kind of flip flopping uncertainty.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- An Ambani disruption in OTT: At just ₹1 per day, you can now enjoy ad-free content on JioCinema
- In second consecutive week of decline, forex kitty drops $2.28 bn to $640.33 bn
- SBI Life Q4 profit rises 4% to ₹811 crore
- IMD predicts severe heatwave conditions over East, South Peninsular India for next five days
- COVID lockdown-related school disruptions will continue to worsen students’ exam results into the 2030s: study
- India legend Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 ambassador
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market