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Renegotiating trade with Mexico and Canada was one of his most prominent achievements of his first term. Fair to say that deal wasn't substantially different fr
by tootie 2y ago
Renegotiating trade with Mexico and Canada was one of his most prominent achievements of his first term. Fair to say that deal wasn't substantially different from NAFTA, but it was a deal that he approved. To come back a few years later and blow it up as being completely unfair is just screaming that he is acting on pure emotion and not logic. Even if he were capable of giving a coherent justification for his actions, he's proven himself to be a completely unreliable negotiating partner. Other countries are refusing to deal with any intermediaries like Lutnick or Navarro because they are all pushing separate agendas and Trump has not held to any of them. They're just going to wait for him (or Congress) to break.
- sanderjd 2y agoYep, the giant Canada tariffs, in particular, as his first act on trade, was probably the most deeply weird and inexplicable thing I've seen a major world leader do in my lifetime. I've seen lots of policies I've disagreed with or despised, but very few that are just weird.
- donavanm 2y agoDont forget the dualities of “nato article 5 is for suckers, theyre on their own” followed by “europe needs to pay us for nato protection.” Then “nato needs to increase defense spending and take care of themselves” followed by “you need to buy us defense products!” Believing the stated (“sane washed”) strategic goals only makes the actions more damning as evidence of incompetence.