GLOBAL CENTRE STAGE
In a speech in June 2017 , President Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord in order to protect American people and interests .
world . Nonetheless , the fact that there is a new agreement is proof that nations are no longer willing to wait for the United States to assume its leadership role . They are exploring the idea of forging ahead without American support . If this experiment proves successful , then one may find that nations may become increasingly unwilling to compromise on their position vis-a-vis the United States in future negotiations , or may try to bypass it altogether in multilateral fora . This might be the beginning of Asian regionalism without the United States . The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP ), a free-trade agreement , is also building a regional trade environment without the United States . However , it is likely that maintaining bilateral relations with the United States will continue to hold the same level of importance for other nations in the foreseeable future .
( ii ) The North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA )
The other multilateral economic engagement that is under review is the NAFTA . Having stated time and time again that the NAFTA was not a good deal for the United States , President Trump , in May 2018 , announced that the United States intends to ‘ modernise ’ the agreement . In its notification to the US Congress , it stated that it seeks to renegotiate the agreement with Canada and Mexico to bring it up to date for the new trade environment and new businesses that have grown since it was first negotiated . While the need to bring the NAFTA up to date is acceptable , the multiple rounds of negotiations have not yet been able to bridge the differences between the three member countries on various issues such as automobile tariffs , etc . The White House has tied American tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to a better NAFTA trade deal . Moreover , it has not helped matters that President Trump ’ s views on Mexico has ensured that outgoing President Enrique Pena Neito has very little space to negotiate without seeming to bow down to the United States . The recent difference between President Trump and Prime Minister Justine Trudeau has also meant that the domestic political context in both these nations now comes into play . The ' nation first ' view of the Trump administration has led both Mexico and Canada to also harden their stands . The recently held Mexican presidential elections and the upcoming mid = term elections in the United States has changed the timeline of the negotiations . In such a situation , negotiations and compromises are difficult to achieve . A protracted negotiation would be harmful to all three economies due to the high level of integration between them .
With a possible lesson from the CPTTP negotiation of which both Mexico and Canada are members , the two nations are diversifying their trade away from a heavy dependence on the United States , to the European Union and Asia , especially China , and also Latin America for Mexico . The two countries are also in the process of strengthening their bilateral relationship . The government of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announced that it will lift visa restrictions for Mexican visitors , a move that is likely to foster more direct trade and investment between the two countries . Canada and Mexico already have economic ties through NAFTA and even split some of the same industrial supply chains , but the visa rules deterred closer economic ties . While it would be too soon to say if and when the new NAFTA would come into force , the three nations will continue to have an interdependence on each other ' s economies . They are border nations and their economies are too intertwined for the trilateral trade relationship to break apart . Instead , what it may lead to is the possible diversification of trade and investments by Canada and Mexico .
( iii ) The Paris Climate Change Agreement
In a speech in June 2017 , President Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord in order to protect American people and interests . He announced that the United States was willing to re-enter the agreement or an entirely new transaction on terms that would be fair to the United States and its people . Major American allies such as France , Germany and Italy , in a joint statement , expressed regret at the move but clarified that it was not possible to renegotiate the agreement . To date , 179 countries have ratified the agreement which entered into force in November 2016 .
The withdrawal could impact global climate mitigation efforts in two ways . With the largest donor country - i . e ., the US - out of the agreement , there now exists large gaps in
34 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 7 • July 2018 , Noida