Trump is considering easily getting rid of the name "NAFTA"

PTrump resident does not like many things about the North American Free Trade Agreement, including his name. Getting rid of the name, as he has long sought to do, is one of the goals that Trump is most likely to participate in the ongoing trade negotiations, according to trade policy experts, because the change would be essentially cosmetic.

Asked Wednesday on the state of NAFTA negotiations, Trump immediately redirected the conversation on the name of the potential deal. "I'll give you a little surprise about the name when it's over, because he could have two or three," he told the White House. "We will find out very soon."

Trump has made similar comments in the past. At a press conference at the end of August, he said, "We will remove the name of NAFTA because the United States has hit the United States hard for many years. "

Trade policy experts said that from a policy perspective it would make little difference – and that is why it could happen. It will be an easy concession for NAFTA business partners to do in the United States.

"It would only be a political name change." He wants to be able to tell from his base that he has changed NAFTA and has improved it, "said Simon Lester, Policy Expert. for the free market of Cato Institute. "Canada and Mexico should be in agreement, but I do not know if they care, they are not attached to the name, they just want the substance to be there."

The White House said its recent agreement with Mexico would "supplant" NAFTA and called it "the trade agreement between the United States and Mexico." The administration said it would not need Canada's support. Nevertheless, he has begun talks with Canada for his approval, as many members of Congress are wary of approving an agreement that could disrupt NAFTA. An apparent deal with Canada failed last week and Trump has in any case submitted the agreement to Congress. Talks with Canada continued.

"Canada is still at the negotiating table and if these negotiations are successful and there remains a trilateral agreement, the name change would be aesthetic," said Hugo Perezcano, Deputy Director of the International Law Research Program at the Canadian Center for Governance. Innovation. "The agreement between Mexico and the United States has brought about important and significant changes, many of which do not improve or modernize NAFTA, but rather the opposite, but the title has nothing to do with it. I doubt a faded NAFTA. "