Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador thanked President Donald Trump and the United States for not imposing on his nation’s sovereignty and signed a friendship agreement Wednesday at the White House.
Trump and Obrador met at the White House to finalize the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) reached in 2019 as a replacement for NAFTA. White Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not in attendance, Trump said the Canadians would come to the White House in due time. (EXCLUSIVE: GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer On How Trump Is Saving America’s Working Class)
“You have never sought to impose anything on us that would violate our sovereignty,” @lopezobrador_ tells @POTUS. “You have not tried to treat us as a colony.” pic.twitter.com/EuvqWdB4rC
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 8, 2020
Trump had been critical of NAFTA since he announced his candidacy for president in 2015, arguing it was among the worst trade deals in history.
“Today, we are finally ending the NAFTA nightmare and signing into law the brand new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Trump said at the USMCA signing. “The USMCA is the largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved.” (RELATED: How Exactly Is Trump’s USMCA Trade Deal Different From NAFTA?)
Among other things, the USMCA requires more automobile manufacturing in the U.S.; balances dairy imports and exports with Canada, and provides protections for Mexican laborers that will allow them to earn higher wages.