On Monday, President Trump called in the TV cameras to record a speakerphone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on NAFTA negotiations. Specifically, Trump called to congratulate Peña Nieto and himself on replacing NAFTA with what Trump called the United States–Mexico Trade Agreement. (Peña Nieto called it NAFTA.) After a politically brutal week, Trump was claiming victory. He said he was "terminating" the $1 trillion trade deal that has reshaped North America's economies for 25 years, saying the name NAFTA "has a bad connotation" and the "incredible deal" he'd just reached with Mexico is probably open to Canada, too, if it wants to join.
"But what he went on to describe seemed like more of a rebrand than a revolution," says Krishnadev Calamur at The Atlantic, and the end result will likely be "some tweaks to the existing agreement." In fact, "it's not clear Trump can actually terminate NAFTA without congressional approval," and Congress — which has 90 days to give any deal an up-or-down vote — has only authorized trilateral negotiations including Canada, he added. Monday mostly "showcased a strategy where Trump bluffs, rebrands, and claims victory."
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