Following reports that the Trump administration was considering an executive order to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), President Donald Trump assured the leaders of Mexico and Canada that he would only like to renegotiate the trade deal at this time.
Trump spoke with Mexican President Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the phone on Wednesday, according to a readout of the call from the White House.
“President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries,” the White House said in its readout of the call. “President Trump said, ‘it is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation. It is an honor to deal with both President Peña Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better.'”
Trump followed up on the issue Tuesday morning with tweets warning that if he does not like the deal to renegotiate NAFTA, he will terminate the trade agreement.
I received calls from the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada asking to renegotiate NAFTA rather than terminate. I agreed..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
…subject to the fact that if we do not reach a fair deal for all, we will then terminate NAFTA. Relationships are good-deal very possible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2017
The statement from the White House followed two reports that Trump advisors had drafted an executive order to withdraw the United States from NAFTA. Politico reported that White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who leads the National Trade Council, drew up the draft order. Reuters confirmed that the White House was considering the order.
This post has been updated.
