Trump will not withdraw from NAFTA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday told the leaders of Mexico and Canada that he will not pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement now, just hours after administration officials said he was considering a draft executive order to do just that.
The White House made the surprise announcement in a read-out of “pleasant and productive” calls between Mr. Trump, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“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,” said the White House.
Mr. Trump said he believes “the end result will make all three countries stronger and better.”
The Mexican government confirmed the conversation in a statement issued late Wednesday.
“The leaders agreed on the convenience of maintaining the North American Free Trade Agreement and working together with Canada to carry out a successful renegotiation for the benefit of all three countries,” the statement read.
The White House announcement came hours after administration officials said Mr. Trump was considering a draft executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the deal — though administration officials cautioned it was just one of a number of options being discussed by the president and his staff.
Some saw the threat as posturing by Mr. Trump to gain leverage over Mexico and Canada as he tries to negotiate changes to the deal. Mr. Trump railed against the decades-old trade deal during his campaign, describing it as a “disaster.”
Senior White House officials had spent recent days discussing steps that could be taken to start the process of renegotiating or withdrawing from NAFTA before the end of Mr. Trump’s first 100 days in office, according to a person familiar with the president’s thinking.
But the person, along with an administration official, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations, had said a number of options remained on the table, and stressed discussions are ongoing about the best way to proceed.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declined to comment on the order.
Mr. Trump could withdraw from NAFTA — but he would have to give six months’ notice.
The decision came days after the administration announced it would slap hefty tariffs on softwood lumber being imported from Canada. Mr. Trump has also been railing against changes in Canadian milk product pricing that he says are hurting the American dairy industry.
Pentagon expands rebuke
The Turkish government gave the U.S. less than an hour’s notice before conducting strikes on partner forces in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, stepping up its criticism of airstrikes that the U.S. said endangered American personnel.
“… this was notification, certainly not coordination as you would expect from a partner and an ally in the fight against [the Islamic State group],” said Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman.
The Turkish bombing killed as many as 20 Kurdish fighters in Syria and, according to the U.S. military, five Kurdish peshmerga troops in a coordinated attack across the border in northern Iraq. According to the Turkish government, both attacks targeted members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which both Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist group.
Climate change pact
Key officials will meet at the White House on Thursday to discuss whether Mr. Trump should make good on his campaign promise to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement, or allow the U.S. to remain a party to the global pact — confronting head-on an issue that has divided the administration and raised concern in the international community.
Fund for women
Ivanka Trump, Mr. Trump’s oldest daughter and one of his top advisers, is in discussions with the World Bank about setting up a fund that would pool resources from G-20 countries to support female entrepreneurs, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Visit to Israel
The Trump administration is in talks with Israel to arrange a presidential visit toward the end of May — possibly part of Mr. Trump’s first foreign trip.