Trump waffles on NAFTA negotiations, re-entering TPP
President Trump says he would consider re-entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership if he can secure a "substantially better deal" for the U.S.
Mr. Trump told CNBC in an interview in Davos, Switzerland that he "would do TPP, if we made a much better deal than we had." He says, "We had a horrible deal."
"I always say this I would do TPP if we were able to make a substantially better deal — the deal was terrible. The way the deal was structured was terrible If we did a substantially better deal I would be open to TPP," he said.
Mr. Trump directed the U.S. trade representative to withdraw from the sweeping agreement involving the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations shortly after taking office. He said he would pursue individual deals with the other countries.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada and the remaining 11 countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have since agreed to a revised trade agreement.
The agreement follows two days of high-level talks in Tokyo and was confirmed by Canadian International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. The partners are now expected to work toward signing the agreement by early March.
Trudeau says the pact meets Canada's objectives of creating and sustaining growth, prosperity and well-paying middle-class jobs today and for generations to come.
Trump is also trying to re-negotiate the three-way NAFTA trade deal with Canada and Mexico. He says he'll pull out of that if the U.S. can't secure better terms.
"NAFTA is a horrible deal – we're negotiating it. I may terminate nafta, I may not. We'll see what happens. And I went around and told stadiums full of people – we may terminate it, we may not," he said.
Mr. Trump had previously called NAFTA "a disaster" and said in the Oval Office this past Fall that he's been "opposed to NAFTA for a long time."