United States President Donald Trump recently made a remark stating that he is considering the possibility of dismantling the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). President Trump added that he will push through with his plans regarding NAFTA should Canada fail to agree with new terms.
Early Saturday morning, President Trump posted a tweet stating "no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal." The President is referring to the tentative agreement between the United States and Mexico which was reached last week.
Furthermore, President Trump has called to Congress to not interfere with any trade negotiations between Canada and the United States. The President threatened to "simple terminate" NAFTA should this happen, and added that the United States will be better without the deal.
On Monday, a preliminary trade deal was announced between the United States and Mexico. The preliminary deal was reached following the resolution of various issues regarding auto manufacturing. The deal was only between the United States and Mexico. Canada, on the hand, stated that it will send officials to rejoin the trade talks this week.
Trade deals and negotiations closed on a positive note last week. However, the possibility of tearing NAFTA down has once again reared its ugly head when the United States and Canada failed to close an agreement between the three member nations.
The initial plan was to rewrite the trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico before the latter's newly elected president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, takes his oath of office on December 1.
With the future of NAFTA still hanging in a balance, negotiations are expected to resume on Wednesday. At a press conference, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said that she will continue to push a trade deal that will be beneficial to Canada. She also iterated that a trilateral trade deal between the three member nations of NAFTA can be achieved.
Since taking office, President Trump has repeatedly threatened to dismantle the NAFTA deal. The President has, on several occasions, stated that the 24-year-old deal has cost thousands of American jobs. He has also repeatedly complained that the United States is being unfairly treated by Canada.
President Trump said that he will impose new tariffs on Canadian-made cars if the country will not comply with the terms of a new trade deal.
