No one will have to wonder what happened in this White House telephone call.
President Trump announced a new trade deal with Mexico Monday morning from the Oval Office, with Mexican President Enrique Peña-Nieto appearing via speakerphone (eventually).
WATCH: Trump tries to conference in Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto from the Oval Office https://t.co/ou33zVaoGj pic.twitter.com/9o98otee8W
— Bloomberg (@business) August 27, 2018
Peña-Nieto led the call, saying he had wanted the opportunity to “review, to modernize, to update” the existing trade agreement between the two countries and expressing his “wish that Canada will also be able to be incorporated in all of this.” He then thanked the negotiating teams of both countries and praised Trump’s “political will” in pursuing the new agreement.
Trump, no fan of NAFTA, gave the new agreement what he described as “an elegant name,” the United States/Mexico Trade Agreement.
Trump took full advantage of the live broadcast to send a few messages to Canada, saying he’d be calling Prime Minister Trudeau soon, and, “if they’d like to negotiate fairly, we’ll do that. They have tariffs of almost 300 percent on some of our dairy products so we can’t have that. We’re not gonna stand for that.”
.@POTUS: "It's a big day for trade, big day for our country." pic.twitter.com/LTo6SEpLpx
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) August 27, 2018
The deal will be sent to Congress by Friday, and they have 90 days in which to act. Trump said “the existing deal” (NAFTA) will be terminated “when the new deal happens.”
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