Auto giants launch new coalition to save NAFTA

Some of the world's largest car manufacturers are joining forces in an attempt to stop US President Donald Trump withdrawing the Unites States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Auto trade associations representing nearly every major carmaker are part of a new alliance dubbed "Driving American Jobs" and will lend their support to an advertising campaign aimed at persuading the White House that NAFTA should remain.

The coalition, which includes the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association and American International Automobile Dealers Association, said ending NAFTA, which has become key to $1.2 trillion (1 trillion euros) in annual trade between the three countries, would put American auto sector jobs at risk.

However, Trump told the Fox Business Network that he believed NAFTA would "probably" be renegotiated, and hethreatened to withdraw completely if they could not strike what he considered to be a fair deal.

"We can't allow the world to look at us as a whipping post. Not going to happen anymore," said Trump, who has been accused by the Chamber of Commerce of trying to sabotage talks with "poison pill proposals."

Trump proposals 'unsustainable'

NAFTA is heavily utilized in the North American auto industry, with significant production and supply chains across the US, Mexico and Canada.

It was introduced under the Clinton administration in 1994 and ensures that at least 62.5 percent of the material in a car or light truck made in the region must be from North America to be able to enter the marketplace tariff-free.

In the most recent negotiations last week, Trump proposed raising this to 85 percent and securing 50 percent of the total for the US, but this is viewed as unsustainable for automakers and not attractive to Mexico and Canada.

mds/hg (Reuters, dpa)