Europe and Mexico show the world can trade without the U.S.

Cecilia Malmström, EU commissioner for Trade holds a press conference on EU-Mexico trade agreement at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, April 23.

Cecilia Malmström, EU commissioner for Trade holds a press conference on EU-Mexico trade agreement at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, April 23. PHOTO: WIKTOR DABKOWSKI/ZUMA PRESS

By The Editorial Board

April 23, 2018 7:09 p.m. ET

135 COMMENTS

Mexico and the European Union agreed to a new trade deal over the weekend, and the timing is no accident. With the French and German leaders in Washington this week, and the Nafta talks getting serious, America’s trading partners are showing that the world won’t stop if the U.S. goes protectionist.

The EU-Mexico deal is the sort of trade opening that is increasingly common beyond America’s shores. The two sides have agreed in principle to remove protections on a long list of agricultural goods, and to expand two-way trade in services such as travel and telecommunications. The pact also will open government procurement to foreign competition, particularly at the state and local levels in Mexico. The two sides traded goods and services worth $76 billion last year.

Which shows what the U.S. is missing as the world goes by. The baseline for a modern trade deal goes well beyond the reduction in tariffs on manufactured goods that used to be the standard aim. Now a useful trade deal includes agricultural liberalization, and a chapter reducing regulatory barriers to trade and at least a few services. All of these negotiating planks play to America’s commercial strengths.

Recent deals include the EU-Canada agreement known as CETA, Europe’s trade deal with Japan, and a multilateral Pacific agreement that was reborn after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from Trans-Pacific Partnership talks. The U.S. is part of none of these deals, and the President has also made no effort to revive negotiations toward a U.S. deal with the EU.

This is an important week for trade, with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hoping to persuade Mr. Trump to extend Europe’s exemption from U.S. steel tariffs beyond May 1. America remains the largest trading partner for both the EU and Mexico, but both are showing they’ll look for other markets if they have to.

If Mr. Trump ends up killing Nafta, he’ll have left the EU with lower tariffs and better market access to America’s neighbors than U.S. firms and farmers will enjoy. It would go down as one of the worst self-inflicted economic wounds in nearly a century.

Mr. Trump keeps saying that his tariffs-first strategy isn’t protectionist but is merely a negotiating tactic to get better trade deals. So far the better deals he’s encouraging don’t include the United States.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3958557&forum_id=2#35909743)

This is great news for Europe and Mexico.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3958557&forum_id=2#35909805)