Trump’s focusing on the wrong thing in trade talk, says conservative analyst

Evan Vucci | AP

President Donald Trump listens during a dinner with European business leaders at the World Economic Forum, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, in Davos.

In an exclusive interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday Trump told CNBChe would reconsider the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal if the U.S. could strike a “substantially better” agreement. He pulled out of the deal last January, although it already had little chance of securing congressional approval even before he took office.

He also repeated his position that he may terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if the U.S. could not reach what he calls a better deal.

“I think we have a good chance, but we’ll see what happens,” he said of whether the U.S. would strike an agreement to stay in the three-nation deal with Canada and Mexico.

Pethokoukis, a DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said Republicans in general are very confused right now about whether trade is good or bad. As for Trump, “Until he says exactly what he wants from these deals and what would get him to ‘yes,’ then it’s just rhetoric.”