Trade, Tariffs, and Tedium: A Year at the Front of Nafta Talks

It was a perfectly Trumpian moment. On the morning of Aug. 27, reporters and top White House officials crowded into the Oval Office to witness the president announce an agreement with Mexico. “Big day for trade, big day for our country, a lot of people thought we’d never get here,” Trump said as he settled in behind his desk. After more than a year of contentious negotiations with Canada and Mexico to redo the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trump finally had a deal—though not quite the one he promised. It included only Mexico, not Canada.

Ever the showman, Trump was eager to make a public display of calling Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as TV cameras rolled. He punched a button to get Peña Nieto on speakerphone. “Enrique?” Instead of the Mexican president, there was silence on the other end as cameras snapped away, capturing the awkward moment. “Hellooo?” Nobody was picking up. As aides scrambled to fix the connection, Trump’s TV triumph had become a scene from the HBO comedy Veep.