Republican Senators Warn Trump Against Withdrawing From NAFTA

Influential Republican lawmakers said that President Donald Trump should lay off on a threatened move to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake from Arizona, Sen. Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn have cautioned against signing an executive order to withdraw from the 23-year-old agreement allowing for the free flow of goods between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, Politico reports.

McCain said that such a move would “be disgraceful and a disaster,” while Flake said a withdrawal would be harmful to his state and the country as a whole.

Trump’s administration said on Wednesday that the President, who has vowed to pull out of NAFTA, is considering a draft executive order to withdraw from the trade pact as it nears renegotiation.

“Trying to negotiate NAFTA makes sense, withdrawing from it doesn’t,” Graham told Politico.

“I think we’d better be careful about unintended consequences,” warned Sen. Cornyn from Texas.

Earlier this week, Trump slapped tariffs on softwood lumber imports from Canada, after calling the country’s dairy practices “unfair.” Relations have also been tense with Mexico, which Trump has accused of destroying U.S. jobs while demanding that the country pay for a wall along its border with the U.S.

[Politico]