On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said he would begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
We will meet with Canada’s Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau] and Mexico’s President [Enrique Peña Nieto] and we will begin NAFTA-related negotiations,”
explained the President at a White House meeting.
Trump will invite his Mexican counterpart on January 31st. At the moment there is no date for his meeting with the Canadian head of government.
NAFTA, which has been in effect since January 1994, groups the United States, Mexico, and Canada in a large free trade zone, and it was one of Donald Trump’s favorite targets during the election campaign, since he believes it caused an exodus of US jobs towards Mexico.
The new Republican administration has already warned that if its partners opposed a negotiation to provide US workers with an equitable agreement, the United States would abandon NAFTA.
According to the Statutes of the Treaty, one of the parties may notify the others of its intention to withdraw, at which time a period of 180 days begins to discuss further negotiations. If a new agreement is not reached, the old one dissolves.
The flamboyant US president praised his Mexican counterpart saying he has been really extraordinary, and expressed his desire to achieve very good results with the neighboring country on immigration and security issues.