Trump hails ‘most important ever’ US-Canada-Mexico trade pact

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday hailed a US trade pact with Canada and Mexico, which replaces the old North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA) deal, as a historic agreement set to turn North America back into a “manufacturing powerhouse” and fuel US economic expansion.

Governing almost US$1.2 trillion in trade, the pact known as the US- Mexico- Canada Agreement, or USMCA, is “the most important trade deal we’ve ever made by far,” Trump told a White House press conference.

The agreement first announced late Sunday, just before a midnight deadline, ended more than a year of tense negotiations sparked by Trump’s decision to scrap the quarter- century old NAFTA.

Trump’s aggressive tearing up of long- standing US trade deals – with everyone from its two huge neighbours to China and the European Union – has rattled world leaders and sparked fears of economic turmoil.

But in a buoyant performance at his Rose Garden news conference, Trump said the approach of using harsh tariffs to force countries into renegotiating unfair deals had been vindicated.

“The US in its trade deals has lost on average almost US$ 800 billion a year. That’s dealing with China, dealing with European Union, with everybody, Japan, Mexico, Canada, everybody,” he said.

“We’re not going to allow that to happen.”

USMCA is said by analysts to be similar to NAFTA in many respects but there is improved access for US agricultural goods, including the dairy products which Canada in particular had tried to limit.

New rules are designed to improve US auto workers’ competitiveness, with 40 per cent of each car required to have been made by people earning at least US$ 16 an hour. The US had also sought increased American content for duty-free autos.

Speaking to supporters in Tennessee, Trump said the new deal meant “America is winning again and America is being respected again because we are finally putting America first,” he said to loud cheers.

Earlier, Trump said the new framework will encourage US companies to hire at home, rather than look abroad.

“It will transform North America back into a manufacturing powerhouse,” he said.

USMCA will “allow us to reclaim a supply chain that has been offshored to the world because of unfair trade issues.”

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador embraced the new deal.

“I must admit, I insist, that President Donald Trump had an open, tolerant attitude,” the leftist politician said. — AFP