Donald Trump will not terminate the NAFTA treaty at this stage, but will move quickly to begin renegotiating it with them, the U.S. President told the leaders of Canada and Mexico, said a White House statement.
Disclosure from the White House a few days ago was that to enable the United States to withdraw from the trade pact with Canada and Mexico, one of the world's biggest trading bloc, Trump and his advisers had been considering issuing an executive order. The most recent announcement came on the back of the earlier statement.
Trump would hold back from a speedy termination of NAFTA, in what was described as a "pleasant and productive" conversation, Trump reportedly told Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during telephonic conversations, the White House said.
"President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries," a White House statement said.
"It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation. It is an honor to deal with both President Peña Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better," Trump was quoted as saying in the statement.
After Trump said the U.S. would stay in NAFTA for now, the Mexican and Canadian currencies rebounded in Asian trading. The U.S. dollar dropped 0.6 percent on its Canadian counterpart and 1 percent on the peso.
While there was a split among his top advisers over whether to take the step of exiting NAFTA, sources had said that the White House had been considering an executive order exiting NAFTA as early as Trump's 100th day in office on Saturday.
Trump has in the past week complained bitterly about Canadian trade practices and had threatened to renegotiate NAFTA during his election campaign.
The United States pulled out of the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal through an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 23.
The Mexican and Canadian currencies lower were driven lower by the news of the potential presidential action to withdraw from NAFTA earlier.
"To totally abandon that agreement means that those gains are lost," said Paul Ferley, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada.
If Trump is unable to renegotiate it with better terms for America, he has repeatedly vowed to pull out from the 23-year-old trade pact. Mexico has been long accused by him of destroying U.S. jobs. From running a small trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s, the United States had a $63 billion deficit in 2016.
Including a move by courts to block parts of his orders to limit immigration, Trump has faced some setbacks since he took office in January.
Withdrawing from NAFTA could hurt him in states that voted for him in the election bit it would enable him to say he delivered on one of his key campaign promises.
"Mr. President, America's corn farmers helped elect you,” the National Corn Growers Association said in a statement. "Withdrawing from NAFTA would be disastrous for American agriculture."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
Disclosure from the White House a few days ago was that to enable the United States to withdraw from the trade pact with Canada and Mexico, one of the world's biggest trading bloc, Trump and his advisers had been considering issuing an executive order. The most recent announcement came on the back of the earlier statement.
Trump would hold back from a speedy termination of NAFTA, in what was described as a "pleasant and productive" conversation, Trump reportedly told Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during telephonic conversations, the White House said.
"President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries," a White House statement said.
"It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation. It is an honor to deal with both President Peña Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better," Trump was quoted as saying in the statement.
After Trump said the U.S. would stay in NAFTA for now, the Mexican and Canadian currencies rebounded in Asian trading. The U.S. dollar dropped 0.6 percent on its Canadian counterpart and 1 percent on the peso.
While there was a split among his top advisers over whether to take the step of exiting NAFTA, sources had said that the White House had been considering an executive order exiting NAFTA as early as Trump's 100th day in office on Saturday.
Trump has in the past week complained bitterly about Canadian trade practices and had threatened to renegotiate NAFTA during his election campaign.
The United States pulled out of the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal through an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 23.
The Mexican and Canadian currencies lower were driven lower by the news of the potential presidential action to withdraw from NAFTA earlier.
"To totally abandon that agreement means that those gains are lost," said Paul Ferley, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada.
If Trump is unable to renegotiate it with better terms for America, he has repeatedly vowed to pull out from the 23-year-old trade pact. Mexico has been long accused by him of destroying U.S. jobs. From running a small trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s, the United States had a $63 billion deficit in 2016.
Including a move by courts to block parts of his orders to limit immigration, Trump has faced some setbacks since he took office in January.
Withdrawing from NAFTA could hurt him in states that voted for him in the election bit it would enable him to say he delivered on one of his key campaign promises.
"Mr. President, America's corn farmers helped elect you,” the National Corn Growers Association said in a statement. "Withdrawing from NAFTA would be disastrous for American agriculture."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
