I'll believe it when I see it, but Trump says he's going to formally begin the process of withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
In his own words, Trump intends to blackmail Congress into passing the trade agreement he signed with Mexico and Canada.
“I will be formally terminating NAFTA shortly,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way home from Argentina.
“Just so you understand, when I do that - if for any reason we’re unable to make a deal because of Congress then Congress will have a choice” of the new deal or returning to trade rules from before 1994 when NAFTA took effect, he said.
Trump's trade agreement, the so-called "United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement," is nearly identical to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In the words of congressional Republicans -- not me -- passing Trump's trade agreement shouldn't be a problem because "95 percent" of it is the same.
During negotiations with Mexico and Canada, Trump eventually caved in and agreed to drop his biggest demands, such as setting exclusive contest thresholds for American automakers, just so he could slap his name on something -- anything -- before time expired at the end of the legal window for negotiation.
Trump himself does not understand how trade works so you have to see this as his attempt to take what others have accomplished and put his name on it.
It's the story of his entire life.