Obama to backpedal on trade

It looks like the threat of protectionist policies has receded, and that is very good news. Anonymous Obama advisers say he will go slow on his promised unilateral renegotiation of Nafta.

Barack Obama, who threatened during the presidential campaign to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement unless he could renegotiate it, may delay reworking the accord as he focuses on the U.S. economic crisis.

After he becomes president in January, Obama will order a study on the world’s largest trade agreement, then seek longer- term negotiations with Mexico and Canada on how to change it, according to three advisers, who spoke on condition that they not be identified.

“They can just let it percolate while Nafta stays out of sight,” said John Magnus, a trade lawyer at Miller & Chevalier in Washington. “Eventually, he will have to level with the American public and say that Nafta is not the villain it has been made out to be.”

UPDATE: The NY Times is urging Congress to pass the Colombian free-trade agreement! Good news on top of good news—will wonders never cease?