Deal with This!

Deal with This!

By: Erreh Svaia

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

Albert Camus

As NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) goes into its 23rd year of existence, it seems that its main purpose, the creation of a continental powerful commercial block in North America is slowly fading away with the arrival of the protectionist histrionics of Donald Trump as president of the USA and his "alternative facts" about the USA-Mexico relationship, while claiming that Mexico has been abusive on the relationship by stealing thousands of factories and jobs from the USA, Trumps seems ignorant about how Japanese drive for quality production cost wise and stubborn American unions were key elements to American car industry weakening, in fact, the cost wise move of the American factories after the 2008 economic debacle was key to save what remained of the American car industry which otherwise would have succumbed in those years harsh economic recession.

Trump might be worried about keeping and creating jobs in the USA, but how worried would he be about creating true quality well paid jobs, let's not forget that car industry brought lots of low waged jobs to Mexico, will those Americans who trusted him and vote for him in the so called "Rust Belt" accept the same low paid jobs Ford or GM are moving to the USA? The consequence will be one of lack of work force, expensive work force, rising costs and less competitive factories, it will not be a surprise that the Japanese and Korean car industry will receive a welcomed impulse thanks to Trump ignorant attacks towards factories moving to Mexico.

With Trump taking the USA out of NAFTA and into the dark waters of protectionism along with Theresa May from the UK, the window is left wide open for China to paradoxically assume the place of globalization leadership, one that the Chinese have been getting ready to assume since Den Xiaoping started reforming communist in China and preparing its dive into the world economy, its truly ironic that as the UK triggered Brexit and the USA is planning to leave NAFTA, China enters the World Trade Organization and takes the principal stage in this year's Davos economic forum, a quantum leap.if.we remember those countries in the 70s, now it seems that the role played with discretion by China in Latin America during the years of the Socialismo del Siglo 21, will be more openly played by Chinese leader Xi Jingpin, and plans for a Panama Canal sort of continental crossing path in Nicaragua could even happen in Mexico across the region known as the "Istmo", it also seems that as NAFTA breaks apart, once popular Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau could be having big trouble handling Trump all by himself, as he has nearly disappeared from sight at Trump's announcement of renegotiating NAFTA, it seems that Trudeau's joyride is about to end.

Now Mexico is on a full on discussion with Trump, as the supposed "deal master", we have only seen a bully imposing condition and executive orders just like a dictator, it's puzzling to think how a business man like Carlos Slim dared to call Trump a "Negotiator", a sign that Slim might be out of step with Trump's agenda and just immerse on his own business, not the man some directionless millennial hoped for, who could face Trump, it seems that Slim is more worried about his business monopoly in Mexico, while others like politician Andrés López, always an opportunist, tries to get advantage from Trump's arrival, López an old school populist and protectionist just like Trump hardly looks like the antidote to stop the anti-globalist agenda of The Donald.

But the main resistance to Trump's attack will come from within, Trump is making the big mistake of making advances on too many fronts and it seems that his administration may face a too sudden stop and end, considering the disaster occurred by another authoritarian populist named Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, it seems that the USA population, already questioning Trump's mental health, is about to resist a president who has turned its back on the world, on USA intelligence agencies, on allies and has been apparently driven or manipulated by enemies, creating global turmoil at large scale, one that could detonate a social health contingency, a racial conflict on USA borders and an economic recession in the USA, a global trade war, the erosion of the European Union, a massive migrant conflict and an acceleration of nuclear tension, not the type of stuff you would expect from a "master negotiator" but from a dictator, an authoritarian populist, a megalomaniac and one that definitely is not fit to lead the biggest economy in the world.