Trump wouldn’t mind seeing NAFTA replaced

JILL COLVIN | PAUL WISEMAN
Washington, US.- President Donald Trump on Friday floated the idea of replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement with two separate trade deals — one with Canada and one with Mexico — adding more uncertainly to trade talks between the three countries that appear to have ground to a halt.

Speaking with reporters at the White House, Trump said America’s neighbors are “two very different countries” that perhaps should no longer be governed by the same trade rules.

“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t mind seeing NAFTA where you’d go by a different name where you make a separate deal with Canada and a separate deal with Mexico,” he said.

The comment was sure to further complicate talks that have been under way for months to renegotiate the landmark free trade deal that eliminated most tariffs and duties between the three countries. The talks already were on tense footing when

Trump announced this week that he would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, igniting global condemnation and threats of retaliatory tariffs that could badly hurt American producers.

Trump has long railed against NAFTA, condemning it as a job-killing “disaster” that has decimated U.S. manufacturing.