WASHINGTON — If Donald Trump attempts the proverbial gun-to-the-temple negotiating strategy on NAFTA, how should America’s neighbours respond: Keep sitting there, or walk away from the bargaining table? That’s because the U.S. president is increasingly explicit in suggesting he might pull the trigger on the formal NAFTA withdrawal process to frighten the other countries into making concessions during negotiations. He suggested he might start the withdrawal process not necessarily to end NAFTA, but to strengthen his negotiating leverage. “We’re working right now on NAFTA, the horrible, terrible NAFTA,” Trump told an audience in Missouri. Still, a withdrawal notice would present the other countries with a mammoth dilemma — about whether to stay or go.

Source: National Post August 31, 2017 01:30 UTC