BY MADELINE HART

President Donald Trump supports free and fair trade with America’s trading partners. One of his campaign promises during the 2016 Presidential election was to basically level the playing field for American companies to sell their goods and services to other nations, and “to keep jobs in the United States.” When American companies are able to sell their goods and services fairly to other countries; it only benefits Americans with lower unemployment and increased wages here in the United States. President Trump ran on the subject of jobs and he has not forgotten that for a minute. The historical low unemployment rate for all Americans and the booming stock market reflect on America’s confidence with the President’s ability to lead America in economic policies according to Real Clear Politics.

President Trump was able to fulfill his campaign promise he made to his loyal supporters and renegotiate NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. NAFTA first went into effect January 1st, 1994. However, the President has stated that if Canada refused make some trade allowances, then the United States will forgo Canadian trade and focus on their trade pact with Mexico. President Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto have ironed out trade provisions surrounding digital economy, automobiles, agriculture and labor unions. The core of the trade pact allows American companies to operate in Mexico without tariffs. Under the changes agreed to by Mexico and the United States, car companies would be required to manufacture at least 75 percent of an automobile’s value in North America under the new rules, up from 62.5 percent, to qualify for Nafta’s zero tariffs according to the New York Times. President Nieto has also stated that he might be willing to move forward with NAFTA without Canada. He comes to an understanding that he does not have a trade agreement with the United States, it will be a catastrophic risk to the Mexican economy. There are millions of jobs in Mexico that depend on the access of the U.S. markets.

With or without Canada joining the trade pact with its neighbors, both Mexico and the United States economy will grow and prosper. However, the Democratic Senators continue to act as obstructionists and are standing firm in their stance that they will not support a trade pact without our northern neighbors. They fail to recognize the fact that the United States is the driving force behind the trade agreement and refuse to compromise with President Trump and the Republicans on trade proceedings. Again, the Democratic Party does not understand that negotiations are with three independent countries that are verifying to make the best deals for their own countries. We as Americans, should not be concerned about Canadian trade deficits or Canadian worker’s wages. We should be focused on putting America first and creating jobs for the American people instead of trying to save countries that have continuously abused their relationship with the United States, and instead focus on promoting the American economy.