WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Donald Trump’s pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is fraught with unintended consequences, including a threat to more than 100,000 jobs in the US state of Arizona, Senator John McCain said in a statement.
"While renegotiations could help to strengthen and modernize NAFTA to benefit American businesses and consumers, any effort to restrict or impose new barriers on our ability to trade with Mexico and Canada could jeopardize the future of this trade agreement and have serious consequences for Arizona and the country," McCain warned on Thursday.
McCain cited 111,200 jobs in his home state of Arizona that directly depend on bilateral trade with Mexico, as well as the influx of 65,000 Mexicans who cross the border with Arizona and spend $7.8 million each day.
Trump’s tweeted a demand that Mexico pay for the 2000-mile-long border barrier. Pena Nieto responded with a tweet cancelling a meeting with the US president that had been scheduled next week.
Hours later, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump was considering a 20 percent fee on US imports from Mexico to pay for constructing the wall.
