Iran Press/America : Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and Mexico have reached a trade agreement, but it will not be referred to as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto told US President Donald Trump that it was Mexico's wish that Canada now be incorporated into the deal, Reuters source said. Trump, in his turn, said that the US would do a separate deal with Canada or make it part of the deal with Mexico .
"They used to call it NAFTA, we’re going to call it the United States-Mexico trade agreement and we’ll get rid of the name NAFTA," Trump told reporters. "It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years and not it’s a really good deal for both countries."
According to Trump, the new trade deal is very special for manufacturers and farmers.
He also noted that Washington had not started working on a trade agreement with Canada yet, as it wanted to see first if the deal with Mexico was possible.
The US president stressed that he would either impose tariffs on Canada cars, or reach a negotiated deal with the Canadian counterparts said Sputnik .
At the same time, Canadian officials stated that they welcomed trade talks between the United States and Mexico that were necessary to renegotiate the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Katie Simpson spokesperson for Foreign Minister said in a statement on Monday.
"Canada is encouraged by the continued optimism shown by our negotiating partners," Simpson said. "Progress between Mexico and the United States is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement."
In addition, the spokeperson noted that Canada will join the renewed North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) only if the deal is beneficial for Ottawa.
"We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class," the spokesperson said.
Earlier on July 12,2018 , Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels.
During the unofficial bilateral meeting, the pair discussed trade, including NAFTA, the Prime Minister's Office said without elaborating further. Trudeau and Trump also discussed the new Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Trump has been antagonistic to Mexico over trade and immigration. Talks to renegotiate NAFTA began nearly a year ago after Trump called for the agreement to be renegotiated to better serve U.S. interests.
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