So much for his powers for negotiating.
Even if Trump’s threat to withdraw and his abrupt about-face were intended as a hardball tactic to elicit concessions, it is unlikely to have that effect, according to Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
“I don’t think of it necessarily as hardball, because I don’t think it is well-thought-out strategy,” Baker said. “This looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. That’s what it looks like to me, and it probably looks the same way to Canada and Mexico.”
Trump has not made clear how or when he plans to reshape NAFTA, beyond repeating that absent a better deal for the United States, he would withdraw from the treaty entirely. Since the campaign, he’s been saying the same thing he said on Thursday ― that he’ll withdraw without a better deal.