Impulsive Decision?
It has been reported that U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to sacrifice the KORUS FTA in place of the NAFTA with the latter being likely to remain valid.
The Daily Beast reported on October 10 that U.S. National Trade Council (NTC) Director Peter Navarro recommended President Donald Trump to aim at the KORUS FTA instead of the NAFTA in order to fulfill his wish by withdrawing from at least one free trade agreement. According to the online news outlet, the U.S. President accepted the advice with little consideration after his efforts to end the NAFTA failed.
The U.S. President and the Director of the NTC had a meeting early this year, when NAFTA renegotiation was much more persuasive than termination. The meeting was also attended by National Economic Council (NEC) Director Gary Cohn and White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon. At the meeting, they persuaded the President to initiate a renegotiation instead of ending the NAFTA.
The Daily Beast continued to report that President Donald Trump’s threat to terminate the KORUS FTA emerged at a critical point in time related to the North Korean nuclear issue and that his opposition to the KORUS FTA seems to be the outcome of a spur-of-the-moment decision.