Trump slams Clinton again over NAFTA

Donald Trump blasted Hillary Clinton for supporting a trade agreement he says hurt businesses and killed jobs in upstate New York, maintaining his hard stance against current U.S. trade policy. 

The Republican presidential nominee told homebuilders on Thursday that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a “total unmitigated disaster” and that under his leadership in the White House, trade deals would benefit the United States not other countries like Mexico.  

{mosads}”Has anyone seen what’s going on in Mexico? They’re taking our businesses, they’re taking our plants,” Trump told the National Association of Home Builders during a meeting in Miami.

“What a sad state of affairs. Well, NAFTA made that all possible and it was signed by her [Clinton’s] husband,” Trump said.

After Clinton won a New York Senate seat in 2000, Trump said, she promised to help create upward of 200,000 jobs in upstate New York following NAFTA but instead “it was a disaster.”

Clinton opposes the most recent major free-trade deal negotiated by the U.S., the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), after years of promoting it while she was secretary of State. 

Former President Bill Clinton signed NAFTA in 1993 after Congress ratified the trade agreement.

“We’re going to put America first. We’re going to make trade deals that are good for us,” Trump told the homebuilders.

Trump argued that the United States doesn’t have good relationships with either Mexico or China and that he is “going to do what’s right for our country and do it in a friendly manner.”

“I’m tired of watching these horrendous trade deals,” he said.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto met with President Obama at the White House last month. Both leaders have said NAFTA helped cement their economic relationship and that the TPP is the next step to further improving ties.

Earlier this week, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) countered Trump’s argument after his Monday economic speech.

“As for renegotiating NAFTA, it’s important to know two things: America already enjoys a significant manufacturing surplus with our trade agreement partners, including NAFTA,” Brady said in a statement sent to The Hill.

“And the proposed TPP will modernize NAFTA so we can sell more American-made products and services into Mexico and Canada.”