US President Donald Trump said Saturday he will soon notify Congress that he plans to end the NAFTA agreement with Mexico and Canada in favor of a new regional trade deal, setting up a potential clash on Capitol Hill. Trump, travelling home from a G20 summit in Argentina, told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would give formal notice to Congress on "terminating" NAFTA "within a relatively short period of time."
That would trigger a six-month waiting period before the US could leave the pact - during that time, US lawmakers would be asked to approve the new deal signed on Friday with America's neighbours. Trump says the new pact - known in Washington as the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) - will help US workers, especially in the auto industry, and better safeguard intellectual property.
"We get rid of NAFTA. It's been a disaster for the United States," said Trump, who insisted that the North American Free Trade Agreement, in place for nearly a quarter-century, was a killer of American jobs. "That'll be terminated so Congress will have a choice of the USMCA or pre-NAFTA, which worked very well," the Republican president said.
The signing of USMCA was a victory for Trump, following months of tense and difficult negotiations with Ottawa and Mexico City. Trump said Friday that he did not foresee a problem with getting congressional approval, but some Democrats - who will control the US House of Representatives as of January - have expressed skepticism. Nancy Pelosi, the frontrunner to regain her position as Speaker of the House, on Friday called the deal a "work in progress."
"What isn't in it yet are enough enforcement reassurances regarding workers" and the environment, she told a press conference. "This is not something that we have a piece of paper where we can say yes or no to it," said Pelosi, who added that Mexico had not yet passed a law on wages and working conditions. The new deal also requires legislative approval in Canada and Mexico.
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