Trump Administration Slips Big Pharma Protections Into ‘New NAFTA’ Deal
Patrick Howley
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President Trump’s America First agenda is being cited as the reason for Democrat hold-up on passing the “New NAFTA” deal, which was largely orchestrated by White House adviser Jared Kushner. But it’s the Trump administration blocking America First reform.
McClatchy has an interesting new report on “NAFTA 2.0,” which is not necessary if the United States just fully withdraws from the original NAFTA, which has drained the life out of the U.S. economy in collaboration with US-China trade deals.
House Democrats are pushing legislation to lower prescription drug costs, which they vowed to do during the 2018 elections, by shortening the length of time the government protects some types of brand-name pharmaceuticals from competition.
But Trump’s proposal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, called the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, includes language that would derail those plans by setting the length of protections for the same drugs in the trade agreement. Congress would not be able to change those limits without violating the rules of the trade deal.
“Here you have a trade agreement that border members of Congress want to be able to eventually support,” said Lori Wallach, the director of the left-leaning Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch program. “Yet the administration basically inserted into that trade agreement, a variety of new protections for big pharma that would effectively tie Congress’ hands from being able to do the medicine price-lowering reforms that many members now newly in office were elected on the basis of.'”
McClatchy report ends
Why is a new NAFTA being written at all when the new Mexican government fails spectacularly at helping us secure our southern border, even compared to the previous Mexican administration?
When Trump gets one-on-one with world leaders and his top economic point men like Larry Kudlow, he has better luck.
President Donald Trump has reportedly made progress in his dealing with the Chinese regime, though a comprehensive deal has not been finalized. The two sides have yet to reach an agreement on Chinese intellectual property theft, which robs the American economy of our innovation.
Trump and Chinese president Xi are in intense talks, which could be occupying Trump’s focus while Kushner and the pharmaceutical lobby mess up NAFTA.
Sources confirm to CNBC that China agrees to purchase “up to $1.2 trillion” in additional U.S. goods, which should fulfill Trump’s goal of eliminating the trade deficit with China over a six-year period.
President Trump is also pushing to get 5G technology in the United States from American companies, instead of from Chinese companies whose technology could lead to more spying on Americans.
BLP reported: China’s economic growth in the year 2018 clocked in at 6.6 percent, which is the worst figure that China has posted since 1990.
China was added to the World Trade Organization in 2001, and for years has gotten the better end of a massive trade disparity with the United States. President Donald Trump is committed to erasing the U.S. trade deficit with China by the year 2024.
In that spirit, China just offered to purchase more than $1 trillion in additional American goods over the next six years.
President Trump’s high-stakes gamesmanship with the Chinese government is clearly paying off.
President Trump is prepared to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un again at a second summit in late February. Trump’s masterful cooling of tensions with North Korea, helped mightily by his trusted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, represents a new chapter in world peace, and also a profound new development in US-Chinese relations.
Will the free-trade media acknowledge the massive success that Trump’s tariffs and tariff threats — part of his so-called “trade war” — is actually bringing about for the American people?
When it comes to China, President Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow is one tough cop:
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