Finding the Axis of Solidarity: Populist Protectionism and the End of NAFTA: Finding the axis of solidarity: populist protectionism and the end of the North American Free Trade Agreement

The 1990s debate about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) became polarized between neoliberal globalizers and an impressive, progressive, antineoliberal coalition of trade unions and social movements. By contrast, in the 2018 NAFTA renegotiation debate, while the neoliberal globalizers were still on the stage, this time their opponents were Trump and his team of white-nationalist, Right-wing populist protectionists. For progressive voices to engage with this debate, we need to examine and transcend habits formed in the earlier era, and seriously address the debilitating nonequivalent exchange that structures trade and investment in contemporary capitalism.