Trump Says U.S. Close on NAFTA Revision But Threatens Pullout
Trump Says U.S. Close on NAFTA Revision But Threatens Pullout
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said the U.S. is close to renegotiating NAFTA with Canada and Mexico but nonetheless threatened to pull out of the landmark free-trade agreement.
“We are fairly close on NAFTA and if we don’t make the right deal we’ll terminate NAFTA and we’ll make the right deal after that,” the president told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on Monday.
The White House has pushed to announce a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement at the April 13-14 Summit of the Americas in Peru, which Trump will attend. But Trump said last week he had told his trade negotiators not to rush talks.
Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in an interview with Televisa, the country’s largest broadcaster, that he sees an 80 percent chance of an agreement by the first week of May.
--With assistance from Eric Martin and Cyntia Barrera Diaz
To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Mike Dorning
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