There’s no such thing as a perfect trade deal. Compromises on all sides were made in-order to ratify NAFTA. Any future trade deal between Canada and the US or Canada and the US and Mexico will be filled with compromise. One sided-trade deals don’t happen between allies, let alone in-between allies whose economies are totally reliant on one another (‘economic partnership’ isn’t hyperbole.
NAFTA has been excellent for all 3 countries. Without a doubt, some sectors were harmed in each, the DSR process has been particularly unfair to Canada IMO, and I’m not a fan of some of the negative environmental impacts it’s had directly, particularly on our oceans - BUT the economic growth it enabled is the reason all 3 countries will renegotiate.
Attempting to expand, for-instance, the auto sector and protect the farm industry, doesn’t have the cost-benefit ratio a President like Trump will need in 3 years. Consumers will be slammed with primary and secondary goods price increases that will be impossible to ignore, regardless of how many times he says “fake news.” MAGA operates on the presumption that jobs are coming home. The reality is, they won’t. Or not in the form that ‘tookerjob’ folks will benefit from. Look at the Tesla factory. If they’re going to try to make Detroit great again, it’s not going to be by re-opening an inefficient, labour intensive traditional assembly line. Currently underemployed Americans are unlikely to work for minimum wage (or less) picking tomatoes in a field, just as the average consumer will be unwilling to pay a living wage for their Walmart veg.
Nobody is signing a deal unless it benefits their country. If you want affordable food and housing materials, you’re going to need to give something up elsewhere. If Canada wants protections for one sector, it’s going to need to accept the resulting protections gained by the US.
It’s going to be a VERY interesting negotiation, and no-doubt the Don will tell his fanboys all about how much winning he’s doing at the table, even though he’s not.