Background
The North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") is a
trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, which works to
eliminate both tariff and non-tariff barriers to free trade and
investment among the three countries and thereby encourage economic
integration. It was signed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney,
Mexican President Carlos Salinas and U.S. President George H.W.
Bush and became effective on January 1, 1994.
Throughout his presidential campaign, President Trump disparaged
NAFTA as the "worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but
certainly ever signed in this country".1 On January 23, 2017,
President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the
withdrawal of the U.S. as a signatory to the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, and included a vague direction to "begin
pursuing, wherever possible, bilateral trade negotiations to
promote American industry, protect American workers, and raise
American wages".2 Some interpreted this as an intention
