NAFTA 2.0

You should've been gone
Knowing how I made you feel
And I should've been gone
After all your words of steel
--Steve Perry

One of President Trump's first actions when he took office was to withdraw the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiation. This was a victory for free, rather than managed trade. Trump subsequently signaled that he might also withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Instead, the president has negotiated a 'NAFTA 2.0' with Mexico and Canada. The new deal, officially dubbed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), constitutes a revision of the previous agreement between the trade bloc.

Trump's NAFTA (with a different name) numbers 1,000 pages of sweetheart privileges and economic meddling.

How long a genuine free trade deal would be?

Maybe a paragraph...tops!

It would be a declaration of the governments getting out of the way!

With NAFTA 2.0, the Swamp lives. pic.twitter.com/vz0U9VLwDK

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) October 3, 2018

As Ron Paul observes, the 1000 page treaty enumerates various sweetheart deals and procedures for economic meddling. If this were truly a free trade deal, the document would be less than a paragraph long, as it would amount to simply a declaration that government would get out of the way of people from different countries engaging in voluntary exchange.

After all, truly free trade does not require a treaty.