Businesses Should Have Plan in Case of Terminated NAFTA, Lobbyist Says
Companies should have a contingency plan in case the Trump administration immediately withdraws from NAFTA, members of the trade community said during a May 3 panel discussion. Companies should be “making sure that your business leaders know what happens in those ninety days after [congressional] notification, how long does the tariff structure stay in place, what are the reversion tariffs that go into place should everything fall down, what does CAFTA do, what does Mexico revert to?” Archer Daniels Midland Vice President of Government Relations Shannon Herzfeld said during a Kelley Drye event examining the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency. “When you have all that data down, then you can have some realistic ideas of what that world might look like.” President Donald Trump was reportedly considering issuing an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA last week (see 1704260049).
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Kelley Drye attorney Laurence Lasoff agreed that situational planning could help protect companies from any negative business consequences of a quick U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA. The expectation that Congress would also have to approve any significant changes that NAFTA parties agree to also complicates the microeconomic outlook, Center for Strategic and International Studies senior adviser Scott Miller said during the panel. Herzfeld said her company is meeting with White House officials to make sure they are aware of how any NAFTA withdrawal would impact U.S. businesses. More generally, the White House has been very receptive to the company’s message about the benefits of agricultural trade, particularly in the office of Vice President Mike Pence, Herzfeld said. “I think that there is a very strong recognition, and perhaps a notion that you don’t want to try to fix a manufacturing problem by screwing up something that works,” she said.