Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration began “a new chapter” with Mexico on Monday after the two countries agreed to a preliminary trade agreement that could eventually replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“After a year of tough negotiations, the United States and Mexico reached a trade agreement that is fair and reciprocal and will strengthen both nations’ economies,” Pence said in a statement, adding that Monday marked “a new chapter between the United States and Mexico … built around friendship, security, commerce, and prosperity.”
“Our nations have agreed to new rules that will maintain duty free access for agricultural goods on both sides of the border. In addition, we have agreed to eliminate nontariff barriers and take other steps to encourage more agriculture trade between our two countries,” he said.
Administration officials declined to answer several questions about the agreement during a phone call with reporters Monday afternoon, and provided few details about the role Canada might play in ongoing negotiations.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto told President Trump during an Oval Office phone call that he hoped a trilateral deal would emerge from the preliminary agreement. Trump, who described Monday as “a big day for trade,” said the U.S. would be starting negotiations with Canada “pretty much immediately.”
“I’ll be terminating the existing deal and going into this deal,” the president said in remarks at the White House. “They used to call it NAFTA, we are going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we will get rid of the name NAFTA.”
According to a fact sheet provided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the deal with Mexico encourages North American automobile manufacturers to use goods and materials produced in the U.S. and Mexico. The deal would require that 75 percent of a vehicle’s parts be made by either country.
“Canada is encouraged by the continued optimism shown by our negotiating partners,” Chrystia Freeland, a spokesperson for Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, said Monday. “Progress between Mexico and the United States is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement.”
