Nafta Talks: Trump Open To A Bilateral Canada-US Trade Deal
President Trump says if talks to reform Nafta fail, he could envisage a US-Canada trade pact, excluding Mexico.
The US president said if there was no deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement, it would be terminated. He was speaking at the White House with visiting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
Replying to a question, Trump said he said he would consider a trade pact with Canada minus Mexico, adding that both the US and Canada wanted to protect their workers.
The current round of talks on renegotiating the trade bloc is reported to be stalling, with Mexico opposing a US move to increase the percentage of US-made components in car manufacturing.
Trump’s stance has however been criticised by US businesses, And Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray, speaking ahead of the latest round of talks, said terminating Nafta could harm US-Mexico relations and damage co-operation on issues like fighting drug-trafficking.
