Trump admits he backed down on Nafta after calls from Canada and Mexico's leaders

[ati87]

Trump's entire leadership style has always been to delegates the decision making to others while he serves a figurehead. That's how he ran his business. He is doing the same thing with the presidency and that's a good thing.

You think he knows anything on foreign policy minutiae of arms control that his administration used as a justification for the missile strike on Syria. Absolutely not, and yet he acted quickly and sensically because he delegates it to Mattis, McMaster, Tillerson, Haley and others and they did the job they are supposed to.

Seriously? That's how you defend this crap?

Half of Trumps cabinet is just as unqualified as him (more so), outside of the army guys he took in most of his top guys aren't any better then him.

Tillerson, DeVos and Caron should have never been placed to those positions

[zenkai]

Fuck NAFTA, he should grow a pair and get rid of it.

[Manabomb]

He backed down? What's wrong with negotiating if they want to negotiate with us now? He said he will still get rid of it if we can't reach a deal. Calm down with the click bait. People still don't understand how Trump does business.

Trump does business the same way a 14 year old plays a video game.

[Independent voter]

Trump believes Canada and Mexico have offered to renegotiate NAFTA.

We'll see.

[ItachiZaku]

I guess if they don't come up with a deal he likes, he can just bomb them. He's still way, way behind Obama's pace for bombing people.

[CostinR]

I wonder.., if trump knows nothing then why was he acting like he had all those great plans for America during his campaign? You remember, those great plans that are leading to nothing or just chaos the last months.

Trump is a moron, only you don't seem to recognise that.

What I recognize is there's a clear cut difference between a political candidate running for the presidency against the two most powerful political parties in the world and their election machines vs that person actually being president and running the country.

Especially when said president ran most of his campaign with only a handful of people. Bannon only joined the Trump campaign in mid August. Cohn, Ross, Tillerson only after the election.

Seriously? That's how you defend this crap?

Half of Trumps cabinet is just as unqualified as him (more so), outside of the army guys he took in most of his top guys aren't any better then him.

Tillerson, DeVos and Caron should have never been placed to those positions

HALF? That's a bold claim seeing as TWO THIRDS of his cabinet was voted in by more then 60 Senate votes or close to it, including Carson by the way who got 58 votes. You think the Senate is in the business of voting for morons as cabinet choices, especially Democratic senators?

As for Tillerson your claim is laughable. Learn some actual facts about how he got the position, because he was recommend to Trump by the following people who then lobbied the Senate to confirm Tillerson.

- Robert Gates, former Deputy National Security Adviser then CIA Director under George H.W. Bush, former Secretary of Defender under George W. Bush and Barrack Obama
- Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State under George Bush. Worked under George H.W. Bush with the team responsible for the Reunification of Germany.
- James Baker, former Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan, former Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff under George H.W. Bush.
- Stephen Hadley, former Deputy National Security Adviser and National Security Adviser under George Bush ( replaced Rice when she became Secretary of State ).

These people are considered some of the finest foreign policy experts in the United States. They ALL recommended Tillerson, they ALL lobbied for him and they are the main reason Tillerson got confirmed.

That and the lobbying work by the following three: George Bush, Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger.

If you think any of these people, who by the way almost all universally opposed Trump's campaign, put their credibility on the line to support some incompetent fool for the Secretary of State position then you're living in an alternate reality.

DeVos and Carson are a different story, although DeVos has been active in the education battle for a long time while Carosn was recommended by four former HUD secretaries AND had an unanimous vote to pass the senate committee until liberal activists demanded Democrats obstruct him.

[melodramocracy]

Trump supporters, 2016: Hell yeah, the Donald doesn't compromise or back down, he gets results! Other countries will do our bidding! MAGA!
Trump supporters, 2017: He's brilliant at meeting people halfway! MAGA!

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These people are considered some of the finest foreign policy experts in the United States.

Condoleeza "we-had-no-idea-people-would-use-planes-as-weapons" Rice is considered one of the finest foreign policy experts? Good lord.

[Deleted]

Nafta might be a good thing if renegotiated correctly. If he can actually do it, only time will tell.

[Thage]

Why buy US lumber at all when Canadian lumber is forged in the crucible of the icy northern wilderness and impregnated by the manly virility of hairy-chested Canadian lumberjacks in red toques with half-buttoned plaid shirts and flasks of maple syrup dangling against their girthy thighs?

If your wood can't grab an axe and chop itself it's not manly enough to consider.

I'll be honest, man, at this point I'm not sure we're talkin' lumber but I like where this is going.

[Tyrianth]

Nothing but money, and there are plenty of other markets that want our stuff. We could easily increase our exports to China, they're already clamouring for it.

Yup, Trudeau has been doing a pretty decent job weening us off of being so reliant on US trade. With CETA in place, and now trade talks with China we'll have more leverage / less to lose with NAFTA renegotiation.

[Deleted]

You guys should read his book. Not saying it's a good book, or even saying his dealmaking strategies are any good, but this is it. Start with what you know you're not going to get, and then negotiate down to the outcome you actually wanted. I mean it's the tactic I use when I go to buy a car, but who knows, maybe it'll work. At least he's attempting to do something about NAFTA.