Among them is Senator John McCain, one of the few legislators who is refusing to roll over, and who on Thursday challenged Trump’s pledge, among much acclaim from his base, to renegotiate Nafta.
“Facts are stubborn things, and the facts clearly show Nafta has delivered enormous economic benefits to citizens of my home state since it went into effect in 1994. In just two decades, Arizona’s exports to Canada and Mexico have increased by $5.7 billion, or 236%,” McCain argued in a statement, warning that free flow of trade has been the foundation of US economic policy for decades, and a major factor in US prosperity and greatness, and reversing that would be detrimental to US interests around the world.
But Trump has taken his election victory as vindication of his stand on free trade, which he has argued has decimated the US economy, a gross over-simplification challenged by economists from all sides. Trump has first trained his guns on Mexico in his pledge to change the rules.
