President Donald Trump said Sunday that NAFTA renegotiations are set to begin with member states Mexico and Canada.
Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Trump lamented current trade deals. During his inaugural address he spoke about “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation.”
The president seems keen on fulfilling this campaign promise to renegotiate current trade deals. A plan on the White House website says the U.S. will withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and that President Trump plans on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, enacted under President Bill Clinton.
President Trump spoke with both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto Saturday. Leaders from both countries have expressed a willingness to renegotiate NAFTA.
Trump said Sunday during a swearing-in ceremony for senior staff members that, “We’re going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA.” He added, “I think we’re going to have a very good result for Mexico, for the United States, for everybody involved.”
The plan on the White House states, “If our partners refuse a renegotiation that gives American workers a fair deal, then the President will give notice of the United States’ intent to withdraw from NAFTA.”