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The former US ambassador to Mexico said that an "extreme" chaos largely characterized the Donald Trump administration's approach to policy, including the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In a column of The New York Times published Saturday, Roberta Jacobson, who resigned from his post as US ambassador in May, describes President Trump's attempt to dismantle NAFTA, which has now been replaced by the US-US agreement. Mexico-Canada (USMCA).
She writes that the story of the US decision to tear up the deal opens "a window into a chaotic decision style that has undermined US diplomacy and national interests around the world."
In the article, she writes that she first discovered the existence of a draft US document ordering the withdrawal of NAFTA from "many emails and phone calls. "Mexican journalists and officials before attending a trade show with Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto. received no information from the administration.
After serving as a diplomat for 30 years, she writes, "I have always relied on the advice of my superiors from the State Department and the White House via the National Security Council. Such an orientation was rare after Mr. Trump took office.
"A little chaos is normal at the beginning of an administration. But that was extreme under Mr. Trump. Thirty ambassadors remain vacant, especially in countries of vital importance such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In addition, the cutoff between the State Department and the White House seems intentional, leaving ambassadors in impossible positions and our allies around the world exasperated, alienated and bewildered. "
She describes a meeting with Nieto, after meeting with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to discuss the withdrawal decision of the Nafta, in which he had asked: "Your President is going to withdraw from NAFTA even before we even had a chance to sit down. "warning that this decision would be an" economic and political disaster ".
Jacobson is one of a series of senior diplomats who resigned from office under the Trump administration. Jim Melville, US ambassador to Estonia, stepped down in June and cited Trump's attacks on the EU and NATO.
The ambassador to Panama, John Feeley, resigned in December because of Trump's refusal to criticize white supremacists after the Charlottesville protests in August 2017 that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer, while diplomat Elizabeth Shackleford left his post in the US mission to Somalia. that same month, alleging that the Trump administration would undermine the state department.
At the very beginning of his tenure, Trump was committed to ending the Nafta, which he termed "the worst commercial deal of all time". In October, it announced the conclusion of a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, leaving many provisions of the old agreement in force, with new key conditions on car manufacturing and dairy products. .
In this article, Jacobson reaffirms the importance of Mexican-American relations for trade and the fight against problems such as the Fentanyl crisis, the traffickers carrying opioid from Mexico to the United States, and the United States. questioning why Trump decided not to unilaterally withdraw from the trade agreement.
"Perhaps because Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray organized a phone call between Presidents Trump and Peña Nieto. Mr. Trump's Secretary of Agriculture may have shown him that his rural agricultural base would be affected. Or because powerful Republicans in Congress have weighed against the ruin of an important trade relationship, "she writes.
The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
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