Trump Offers Rare Glimpse of Hope on Nafta as Talks Push On
Trump Offers Rare Glimpse of Hope on Nafta as Talks Push On
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump offered a positive outlook for the North American Free Trade Agreement after months of threatening to scrap the 24-year-old pact.
“Will it be renegotiated? We’re trying right now,” he said in an interview on CNBC Thursday. “I think we have a good chance, but we’ll see what happens.”
Trump spoke as negotiators from the U.S., Mexico and Canada met in Montreal during the sixth round of talks to modernize Nafta. He reiterated the U.S. objective of shrinking its trade deficit with the two nations.
The president also gave a glimpse of hope to U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement that he walked away from last year before Congress had a chance to ratify it. Other members of TPP have signaled they will formalize the agreement without U.S. participation.
“I would do TPP if we made a much better deal than we had,” Trump said. “The deal was a horrible deal. Nafta was a horrible deal and we’re renegotiating it.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Randall Woods in Washington at rwoods13@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah McGregor at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.