Here we go again. Talks started this week for a revamp to the USMCA trade deal between the US, Canada and Mexico, formerly known as Nafta. Donald Trump’s earlier renegotiation in 2018 secured a change of name but not much difference in substance. His simple-minded protectionism now threatens at best further irrelevant tinkering and at worst a serious rupture.As usual no one knows what Trump will do, including him. On the one hand, he has long hated Nafta, which soon acquired cartoon super-villain status among US globalisation sceptics after its launch in 1994. On the other, last year he carved out partial USMCA-related exemptions to his general tariffs to mitigate the blow to cross-border North American auto supply chains.
又来了。本周，美国、加拿大和墨西哥开始就修订《美墨加协定》(USMCA)——前身是《北美自由贸易协定》(NAFTA)——展开谈判。唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在2018年推动的上一轮重新谈判，换来了一个新名称，但实质内容没什么变化。如今，他这种头脑简单的保护主义，往好了说会带来更多无关紧要的小修小补，往坏了说可能导致贸易关系严重破裂。