WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hailing a revised North American trade deal as if nothing existed before it. The pact with Mexico and Canada…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hailing a revised North American trade deal as if nothing existed before it.
The pact with Mexico and Canada stands as a “model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever,” he said at a signing ceremony with the other leaders Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But fundamental change happened under the deal’s predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The new one brings largely incremental change, with a few significant advances for the auto industry, and it has a new name, the United States- Mexico -Canada Agreement.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was truer to the nature of the deal in his remarks at the signing, saying it “maintains stability,” ”lifts the risk of serious economic uncertainty” and secures the duty-free access to markets achieved under NAFTA.
Likewise, Mexican President Pena Nieto said NAFTA “transformed” Mexico a quarter century ago so that 70 percent of its economy comes from trade. “Revamping the new trade agreement was aimed to preserve the view of an integrated North America,” he said.
