Once critical of global deals, Trump slow to pull out of any
WASHINGTON (AP) - The "America First" president who vowed to extricate America from onerous overseas commitments appears to be warming up to the view that when it comes to global agreements, a deal's a deal.
From NAFTA to the Iran nuclear agreement to the Paris climate accord, President Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric is colliding with the reality of governing. Despite repeated pledges to rip up, renegotiate or otherwise alter them, the U.S. has yet to withdraw from any of these economic, environmental or national security deals, as Trump's past criticism turns to tacit embrace of several key elements of U.S. foreign policy.
The administration says it is reviewing these accords and could still pull out of them. Yet with one exception - an Asia-Pacific trade deal that already had stalled in Congress - Trump's administration quietly has laid the groundwork to honor the international architecture of deals it has inherited. It's a sharp shift from the days when Trump was declaring the end of a global-minded America that negotiates away its interests and subsidizes foreigners' security and prosperity.
A day after his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, certified that Iran was meeting its nuclear obligations, Trump on Thursday repeated his view the seven-nation accord was a "terrible agreement" and "as bad as I've ever seen negotiated."
"Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement and they have to do that," Trump said at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. He said U.S. officials were analyzing the deal carefully and would "have something to say about it in the not too distant future."
Earlier Thursday, he delivered a similar assessment of the North American Free Trade Agreement, railing against the 1990s trade deal while offering no indication he was actively pushing for wholesale changes. As a candidate, Trump threatened to jettison the pact with Mexico and Canada unless he could substantially renegotiate it in America's favor.
"The fact is, NAFTA, whether it's Mexico or Canada, is a disaster for our country," Trump said.
Trump's administration has been focused on marginal changes that would preserve much of NAFTA, according to draft guidelines that Trump's trade envoy sent to Congress. To the dismay of NAFTA critics, the proposal preserves a controversial provision that lets companies challenge national trade laws through private tribunals.
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University, said Trump may be allowing himself to argue in the future that existing deals can be improved without being totally discarded. "That allows him to tell his base that he's getting a better deal than Bush or Obama got, and yet reassure these institutions that it's really all being done with a nod and a wink, that Trump doesn't mean what he says," Brinkley said.
So far, there's been no major revolt from Trump supporters, despite their expectation he would be an agent of disruption. In addition to Tillerson's Iran certification, this week's reaffirmations of the status quo included delaying a decision on whether to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
The president had previously spoken about dismantling or withdrawing from the nuclear and climate agreements as part of his vision, explained in his inaugural address, that "every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families."
Trump had called the Iran deal the "worst" ever, and claimed climate change was a hoax. But in place of taking action, the Trump administration is only reviewing these agreements, as it is doing with much of American foreign policy.
The Iran certification, made 90 minutes before a midnight Tuesday deadline, means Tehran will continue to enjoy relief from U.S. nuclear sanctions. Among the anti-deal crowd Trump wooed in his presidential bid, the administration's decision is fueling concerns that Trump may let the 2015 accord stand.
Similar to Trump, Tillerson on Wednesday sought to head off criticism by describing an administration review of Iran policy that includes the nuclear deal and examines if sanctions relief serves U.S. interests. The deal, he said, "fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran" and "only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state."
The White House's decision of Tuesday's climate meeting meant top aides didn't have the chance to determine what to do about the nonbinding international deal forged in Paris in December 2015. The agreement allowed rich and poor countries to set their own goals to reduce carbon dioxide and went into effect last November. Not all of Trump's advisers share his skeptical views on climate change - or the Paris pact.
Trump has followed through with a pledge to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping free trade deal President Barack Obama negotiated. The agreement was effectively dead before Trump took office after Congress refused to ratify it. Even Trump's Democratic opponent in the presidential race, Hillary Clinton, opposed the accord.
But on NATO, Trump has completely backed off his assertions that the treaty organization is "obsolete." His Cabinet members have fanned out to foreign capitals to show America's support for the alliance and his administration now describes the 28-nation body as a pillar of Western security.