So this may be investors saying, oh, maybe you are okay with ending some of these trade wars. Well talk about this trade deal and what it means. Lets get to the white house where right now the president and first lady are wrapping up a meeting with the president of kenya and his wife. Geoff bennett joins me. I want to get back to senator mccain and the controversy over flags that are at half staff in congress and many other places in the country but not at the white house. They were at half staff and are now back to full staff. Reporter flags are lowered by president ial proclamation so its the president who decides who receives that honor and the recent tradition for senators who die in office have been to have flags lowered in their honor from the day of death until their burial. So during president obamas time in office, he had four Sitting Senators die. There was ted kennedy, robert byrd, daniel inouhe. John mccain under President Trump did not receive that
honor. He appears to be strictly following the u. S. Flag code when says flags only need to be lowered on the day of their death and the day after. The reason why this even matters is because this really exemplifies the long history of mutual disdain. The president Disparaged John Mccain in life and now hes refusing to honor him following his death, ali. All right, geoff. The Trade Agreement with mexico, which was a if you didnt see it, its kind of weird the way it was announced. It went off a little bit it was a rocky start to the whole thing. But whats been the reaction so far to this deal with mexico that the president says is not nafta and its separate and hes going to rip up nafta. Reporter i feel like im preaching to the choir here, but canada is the big x factor because they have been on the sidelines of these talks since july as mexico and the u. S. Focused on settling their differences. So clearly this is the president s way of putting pressure on canada. He wants to fundamentally rebalance that trade relationship. Donald trump, as we know,
to be tricky stuff. In the short term President Trump gets to claim victory, its a promise delivered and its counterprogramming for the blowback hes getting for his handling on john mccains passing. Geoff, thank you very much. The trade deal comes more than a year after President Trump ordered nafta to be renegotiated. I want to take a closer look at what is in this agreement between the United States and mexico. Again, its not a replacement to nafta, its an agreement in principle, if you will. The deal requires that 75 of a cars parts must be made in the United States and mexico in order to avoid tariffs. This is up from roughly 62. 5 right now. 40 to 45 of those parts must be made by workers earning at least 16 an hour. That means that some mexican workers could get a raise as autoworkers there are paid less than their american counterparts. It could also mean some workers lose their jobs and some jobs come to the United States. In addition, if this is approved
by congress, and it has to be, tariffs on Agricultural Products will go back to what they were under nafta, generally zero. And the trade deal calls forrin sent ives for increasing production of textiles and clothing in the United States and mexico. The u. S. And mexico hope to reach a threeway deal with canada by the end of this month. It remains to be seen if canada will agree to the terms of this deal or reach its own separate agreement with the United States. Getting a threeway deal done by the end of august would Mean Congress gets three months to consider this and pass it and that would allow enough time for mexicos parliament to ratify the deal before the new president takes office on december 1st. Some think that is important because the incoming president may not be as open to this as the outgoing president. However, because of procedural requirements, congress wouldnt be able to vote on this deal until early next year. Thanks to nafta, mexico has become one of americas largest
trading partners. In 2017 the United States and mexico traded nearly 616 billion in goods and services across the border. The u. S. Had a Trade Deficit with mexico of about 64 billion. Joining us is matt gold. Matt is a former Deputy Assistant u. S. Trade representative for north america. Hes consulted with american businesses on the renegotiation of nafta and other Trade Agreements. He teaches International Trade law at the Fordham University school of law. Matt, good to have you here, thank you. Great to be here. This is in the weeds, man, this is hard stuff for people to get their heads around. This is really the sausage being made. But nafta, all parties agreed there was going to be some renegotiation, that was already in the books. The president represented this as him having destroyed nafta, hes going to do a new deal. Maybe canada will join. If not, the train is leaving the station without them. What this is is another step in the Renegotiating Nafta and
creating nafta 1. 00. 01. Trump hdid get some meaningful progress there. Presenting it as if the United States is pulling out of nafta, going alone with mexico has two purposes. One, hes trying to scare the canadians so they pressure Prime Minister trudeau to give trump two concessions when canada comes back to the table which trump is not going to get. And the other is to remind his base that when he promised hed really shake things up, hes still prepared to do that as we get closer to the midterms. So the language he used was interesting to his base, but in fact if you look at the concessions that he did get, theyre not terrible. Might not be a bad renegotiation. No, there are a lot of concessions actually not concessions, but a lot of changes that were beneficial to all three countries. It took them most of the year to negotiate things relating to
telecommunications, things relating to how you inspect meat and Animal Products and grain and plant products coming into your country. Lots of changes relating to the Digital Economy which all three countries wanted. But the six big changes he wanted, hes probably not going to get anything but partially this one change. So if you look at it, is it good . Yes. Is this what he promised to constituents who voted for him to change the economy around and overhauling nafta . No, not even close. To the point that the president says these negotiations are all bad. Nobody makes a good deal and i dont like multilateral negotiations and then he goes and sort of rips up the script, causes markets to be unstable for several months, sort of launches a Global Trade War and then gets one of the six things or one and a half of the six things he wanted, thats sort of how he works. Yes. He likes to play canada and mexico off each other. Theyre a little too smart for that. Theyre communicating greatly
and theyre actually tag teaming him. The congress itself, not the current one and not the very different one well see in january would approve us pulling out of nafta and going into two bilateral agreements. Would or would not . Would not. Is there any issue the president is going to face with congress and who will like it more . Both sides will approve it. Its a very small positive everyone will agree on. Democrats will be stuck on two particular things. Nafta had provisions relating to labor and the environment but in Side Agreements and so were not enforceable. For years we wanted to move them into the main agreement and make them enforceable. The democrats are really stuck on that. Nobody knows whether that will happen or not but thats the one thing democrats will be stuck on. Generally, this is still a small net positive. In the end, theres no reason why Congress Wont approve it. Thanks. Matt gold is a former Deputy Assistant u. S. Trade representative for north america and Adjunct Professor at fordham
law school. The nations Top School Loan Official is stepping down saying the Trump Administration turned its back on young people and their financial futures. He cited what he says is the white houses hostility toward protecting the Student Loan Borrowers from predatory lenders. He has been at the helm. Student loan market since 2016 and is the latest highlevel departure from the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau since Mick Mulvaney took over last november. Up next, what the loss of john mccain means to the republican party. Im joined by Ohio Governor john kasich. Plus john mccains moving Farewell Message to the nation. Youre watching msnbc. Youre watching msnbc. So you jd telling people geico could help them save money on Car Insurance . Yea,that and homeowners, renters, motorcycle and boat insurance. Huh. Thats nice. What happens when you catch a fish . Gecko whoa. Geico. More than just Car Insurance. See how much you could save at geico. Com. Im ok im ray and i quit smoking with chantix. I tried to quit smoking for years on my own. I couldnt do it. I needed help. For me, chantix worked. It did. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. Chantix, without a doubt,
reduced my urge to smoke. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. I dont think about cigarettes anymore. Talk to your doctor about chantix. I dont think about cigarettes anymore. This wifi is fast. I know i know i know i know when did brian move back in . Brians back . He doesnt get my room. Hes only going to be here for like a week. Like a month, tops. Oh boy. Wifi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. In many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40s. Campaign manager read it out loud this afternoon. It begins with senator mccain thanking the American People for the privilege of serving them and it ends like this. Fellow americans, that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud american. We are citizens of the worlds greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history, and we have acquired great wealth and power in the progress. We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown
resentment, hatred and violence in all the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been. We are 325 million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country, we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do. Ten years ago i had the
privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with heartfelt faith in americans that i felt so powerfully that evening. I feel it powerfully still. Do not despair of our present difficulties. We believe always in the promise and greatness of america, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit, we never surrender, we never hide from history, we make history. For more on the life of senator mccain im joined by a man who knew him well, Ohio Governor john kasich. Thanks for being with us. Thank you. I just have to say those words again. We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries. John mccain is not the only american who shares these types of views. Hes not the only American Hero and hes not the only republican who carries this torch, but he
was one of the most symbolic ones, certainly in washington. Who carries that torch now . Thats something we have to reflect on. But, you know, he carried a torch that was brighter than all the other torches. Look, john was a guy who fought really, really hard, but at the end it never was personal. He was a guy that had certain principles and ideals about our country, both domestically and internationally. It took a lot to really get him to think negatively about anybody. You know, you think about the outpouring now in the United States senate and the amazing thing here is it normally takes some sort of a catastrophe in the country to bring people together, but through the death of this man, the country is united. I was struck my senator schumer saying that they should name one of the buildings there on capitol hill after john. I mean over in munich, i just
received word now that theres going to be an award in his honor. They refer to john mccain as their dear friend and colleague. The guy was just hes just unbelievable. And i was privileged to know him and be his buddy. Hes just a heck of a guy. Look, everybody whos worked with him in the senate, journalists who have known him, know that he likes to spar. You know, he doesnt pull any punches. He wrote an oped in january of this year entitled, mr. President , stop attacking the press. He said journalists play an Important Role in the promotion and protection of democracy and they must be able to do their jobs freely. Only truth and transparency can guarantee freedom. Governor, you and i have talked about this. A recent poll just taken august 9th by quinnipiac shows that 51 of republicans sort of agree with the president that the media is the enemy of the people. You see this as a real problem that we have to try and f ix . Well, i share senator
mccains view. If you get in to talk about john, john, what, five and a half years in a prison tortured, beaten, after he was injured once he was recovered, he believed so strongly in the principles that make america great, which is the strength of the judiciary, the strength of the congress, the strength of the court, the strength of the press. These are the institutions, these are the institutions that are the foundation of a free society. And people get frustrated with the press. I just had a friend tell me the other day, well, you know, theyre all liberal. Well, in some sense if youre in the media, you tend to be more liberal. If youre building bridges, you tend to be more conservative. Thats okay as long as the bridge is safe and i understand the news. So we cant get too cranked up about this. Part of it is you cant root for your own team. You can be for your team but to root for my team come hell or high water, mccain would be the
first one to tell you no. The thing that sticks in my mind was that incredible scene on the senate floor when he held his hand out just as though he was sitting over in the coliseum in rome and gave the thumbs down. And you know why he did it . Because he was worried that too many people in america would be hurt. And i called john after that. And i said, john, you know and heres the funny thing about this, ali. John is a colleague of mine. Yeah. But in some sense i didnt call him and ask him for things, but i want him to be proud of me. I want him to give me an attaboy. I called him like the next day and i said, john, you now have made it clear that you can be my hero forever. And he is. Hes my hes nothing like i wish everybody in america could know mccain. His laughter, how strongly he felt about things. He was just he was just fun to be around, no question. And he was like that with everybody. Everybody. He would get into a conversation with anybody who
wanted to have it. He would talk politics. We happened to be in a car together some years ago and we were just having the best conversation. But ill tell you, i know youre a little annoyed, as Many Americans are, about this flag at the white house business not being at half staff. Well, i think its shameful, to be honest with you. Weve lowered all the flags youve done it in ohio . In ohio. Were going to pay respect and honor to this man. But i happen to believe in the decency of every individual, every human being, even with those that i can have strong feelings about. I dont wish them harm. My responsibility as a man of faith, as hard as it is sometimes to always have that faith, is to look for the basic decency in others, to search for it, even when sometimes its hard to find. And the lowering of the flags across this country is just a great sign of respect for what
he represented in terms of values. I want to tell you one other thing, ali, that i want to do any time i do any interview. I called john when i found out that he was sick and i asked him