A rollercoaster ride for Texas business leaders, who have watched President Donald Trump vacillate between renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and completely dismantling the deal that means millions to the state's economy, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"I decided rather than terminating NAFTA, which would be a pretty big, you know, shock to the system, we will renegotiate," Trump told reporters this week.
Similar to the Affordable Care Act, the repeal of NAFTA seems easy. Russell Green, International Economist at Rice's Baker Institute, says it's the replacement part that's hard, because it requires balance.
"President Trump is taking steps forward out of instinct and passion and then having to take steps back as a reality check," he tells Newsradio 1200 WOAI.
Trump gave himself an out, though, saying that if he is unable to make a fair deal he will "terminate NAFTA." Green says that simply part of the bargaining process.
"The new administration is going to have a really hard time finding a compromise if complete repeal is not an option," he explains.
President Trump seemed dead-set to repeal NAFTA as part of his first 100 days in office, which is this weekend, but he said it was phone calls with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto that changed his mind.
A statement from the White House said Trump "agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries."
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