Trump Terminates NAFTA, Announces Trade Deal With Mexico
North American Free Trade Agreement get revamp
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(BREAKING) President Trump has confirmed he will be terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and announced a trade deal between the United States and Mexico.
“It’s a big day for trade,” the president said.
“It’s a big day for our country.”
Once the agreement with the U.S. and Mexico is finalized, Canada will be then brought back in to revamp the 24-year-old pact.
When speaking of the agreement, Trump said “we’ll see” if Canada can be part of this deal.
“Canada is encouraged by the continued optimism shown by our negotiating partners,” Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Chrystia Freeland, said Monday. “Progress between Mexico and the United States is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement.”
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According to FoxNews: On Monday, Trump said he wanted to get rid of the name “NAFTA” because it has bad connotations.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump often railed against the trade pact as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere.”
Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto have been working for the past five weeks to iron out their bilateral differences so Canada can rejoin the talks to update NAFTA.
Both countries want to finalize an agreement this month so that it can be signed ahead of Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s inauguration in December.
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One of the biggest issues on the negotiating table deals with car manufacturing jobs, as the Trump administration pushes for a deal that would boost factory employment in the U.S.
U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lightizer and Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo were seen walked together Monday into the White House without talking to reporters.
The delegation also included Jesus Seade, a World Trade Organization veteran tapped by Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as his future chief trade negotiator.
The U.S. on Thursday agreed to keep the 2.5 percent tariff currently applied under World Trade Organization rules if the cars are made at factories that already exist, which leaves open the possibility that automobiles that are built at new plants could face tariffs of 20 percent to 25 percent.
Trump has also signaled that he is open to negotiating trade deals with Mexico and Canada separately, while both countries have said they want to keep the three-nation trade deal that dates back to 1994.
Earlier in August, Trump threatened Canada with auto tariffs if the U.S. and Canada can't forge a deal.
"Canada must wait," Trump tweeted.
"Their Tariffs and Trade Barriers are far too high. Will tax cars if we can't make a deal!"
Canada responded with a statement Friday night, saying: "Our focus is unchanged. We'll keep standing up for Canadian interests as we work toward a modernized trilateral NAFTA agreement."
Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canada's foreign minister, added: "We're glad Mexico and the U.S. continue to work out their bilateral issues. It's the only way we'll get to a deal."
