Trump signs NAFTA rewrite into law at White House event

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico.

Trump made renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement a priority during his 2016 campaign.

“This is a cutting-edge, state-ofthe-art agreement that protects, defends and serves the great people of our country,” Trump said in an outdoor signing ceremony at the White House, where the invitation list included more than 70 Republican members of Congress but no Democratic legislators. “Together we are building a glorious future that is raised, grown, built and made right here in the glorious U.S.A.”

Canada and Mexico already represent the top two export markets for U.S. goods. But the new pact, along with the signing of a “phase one” agreement with China, dials down trade tensions that contributed to slowing economic growth globally.

The leaders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico signed the deal in late 2018. Legislation implementing it received overwhelming, bipartisan support in Congress after several months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between Democratic lawmakers and the Trump administration.

Trump made a point of praising Republican legislators for their work in passing the deal but did not mention the role of Democrats, who said that even if they weren’t invited to the signing ceremony, their influence was being felt.

“What the president will be signing is quite different from what the president sent us,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “We were able to make vast improvements. If we weren’t, we would not have been able to pass the bill.”

NAFTA, which took effect in 1994 under President Bill Clinton, tore down trade barriers among the three North American countries, and commerce between them surged. But Trump and other critics said NAFTA encouraged factories to leave the United States and relocate south of the border to take advantage of lowwage Mexican labor.

Trump threatened to leave NAFTA if he couldn’t get a better deal, creating uncertainty over regional trade.

ANNA MONEYMAKER / NEW YORK TIMES President Donald Trump speaks before signing NAFTA’s replacement into law Wednesday at the White House in Washington.