Progressive strategist Navin Nayak said on Friday that President Trump will regret renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“I think short-term good, I think long term he’s going to rue this,” Nayak, the executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Juanita Tolliver on “Rising.”
Trump, along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, signed a revised NAFTA on Friday, fulfilling one of Trump’s campaign promises.
“One of the big things, in theory, that was supposed to be a part of the updated NAFTA deal was a better deal for car companies in the U.S.,” Nayak said. “Wages were going to be higher overseas, which would keep more cars in the U.S.”
General Motors this week said it would close up to five North American auto factories, four of which are in the U.S.
The president blasted the announcement, threatening to end the federal tax credit for GM’s electric vehicles.
“We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including … for electric cars,” Trump tweeted.
Nayak said the recent GM job cuts put Trump in a tough situation heading into the 2020 election cycle.
“Jeez, I mean 14,000 people laid off. Trump owns this economy now, and he owns news like that,” Nayak. “I think he’s going to rue this around reelection time.”
— Julia Manchester
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