Trump Advisor Says Administration Not Looking To “Rip Up NAFTA” Or Impose “Quote-Unquote Tariffs”

After repeatedly referring to NAFTA as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere” during the presidential campaign, the Trump administration seems to be softening it’s protectionist rhetoric. According to The Hill, in speaking to a group of concerned business leaders, Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci said that the new administration isn’t looking to “rip up NAFTA” but rather to “right-size it and make it fairer.”
Anthony Scaramucci, a senior advisor on the Trump transition team, told a group of business leaders convened at a bipartisan meeting by the group No Labels that President-elect Trump is a free-trader who is looking to make trade deals more fair, not scrap them. ‘I don’t think we’re looking to rip up NAFTA as much as we are looking to right-size it and make it fairer,’ he added. ‘He’s got a great relationship, by the way, with the Mexican president. They talk regularly,’ referring to Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto.
Scaramucci said his homework on Trump’s economic team has been to study the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump called ‘the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere’ during the campaign.
‘I don’t think anybody in the administration from the top to the bottom is looking for protectionism. We understand the economic harm and the impact that would take,’ he said. ‘I don’t think anybody in the administration is looking for quote-unquote tariffs, but I think they are a cudgel if you will to lay out there if we can’t get the trade deals to be right-sided to now benefit the American people.’

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Dec 5, 2016.