Mexico

Mad King Donald Wanted To Fire Missiles Into Mexico

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Above: The Patriot (MIM-104) is a long-range, all-altitude, all-weather air defence system to counter tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and advanced aircraft. It’s tell-all book time, again, and this time it is former secretary of Defense Mark Esper. The New York Times reports on a passage from his memoir, Trump Proposed Launching Missiles Into Mexico to … Read more

Where is the Great Dealmaker? Not in the White House.

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Over the last few days, commentary pieces in the Washington Post and New York Times have noted that the President’s reputation as a great dealmaker is overrated. His reputation as a huckster and charlatan who successfully reneges on deals is secure and on the mark. As the two writers in those articles pointed out, the … Read more

When is a trade deal not a deal? When Donald Trump is the negotiator

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Donald Trump needed another distraction yesterday, so he announced that he had reached a trade deal with Mexico to replace NAFTA.

Yeah, not even close.

As Steve Benen notes, Trump doesn’t seem to realize his new trade deal isn’t a trade deal:

Let’s back up to provide some context. For about a year, the Trump administration has engaged Canadian and Mexican officials in renegotiating the terms of the existing NAFTA agreement, which the president claims to hate, despite never fully explaining why. The months-long process has been a struggle, and by all accounts, the countries are not yet close to a trilateral deal.

Recently, however, Trump’s team has been working directly with Mexico on a provision related to auto manufacturing, and yesterday, the White House announced that those talks resulted in an agreement. That’s not nothing, and it may move the administration closer to its goal.

But it’s only a step. The Atlantic’s David Frum joked yesterday, “Congratulations to the Trump administration on reaching a preliminary agreement in principle to begin negotiations with half of America’s NAFTA counterparties with a view to revising one section of the trade agreement!”

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