Pro-NAFTA American lawmakers press Trump at meeting
WASHINGTON — A number of pro-trade American lawmakers had lunch with Donald Trump on Tuesday as they ramped up the political campaign to prevent him from blowing up NAFTA.
Trump met at the White House with senior staff and a half-dozen Republican senators, who urged him not to start cancelling NAFTA, which Trump has threatened to do as a bargaining tactic.
This came after a similar meeting in which U.S. car companies took their concerns to Vice-President Mike Pence. They are frustrated with auto proposals the Trump team has put on the negotiating table and dozens of lawmakers recently echoed their concerns in a public letter.
One of the senators present at Tuesday’s meeting, Iowa’s Joni Ernst, said she raised her concerns with the president and with U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer.