Editorial Board
Rebranding Nafta Is Better Than Dismantling It
Trump’s deal with Mexico could have been worse.
Another really good deal.
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
After threatening for months to blow up Nafta, President Donald Trump seems to have settled for a modest rebranding — so far as trade with Mexico is concerned, anyway. His new “United States-Mexico Trade Agreement” would leave arrangements that have spurred innovation, growth and economic integration of the two countries mostly intact.
Granted, the deal is not yet done. What’s been announced is only a “preliminary agreement.” Talks with Canada are next, and could be more acrimonious. Nonetheless, supporters of free trade will welcome signs that Trump’s bluster, not for the first time, was largely just that.