President Trump suggested his administration would like to speed up the pace of negotiations over a new North American Free Trade Agreement, telling lawmakers on Thursday he would accept amendments to the current deal or scrap it altogether and start fresh.
“I have very serious concerns about NAFTA,” Trump said before a closed-door meeting with key congressional leaders. “NAFTA has been a catastrophe for our county. It’s been a catastrophe for our jobs and our country.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Ron Wyden, the committee’s top Democrat, attended the meeting, as did House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and its ranking member, Rep. Richard Neal.
Wilbur Ross, Trump’s pick for secretary of commerce, was also in attendance.
“I want to change it, and maybe we do it and maybe we do a new NAFTA and we add an extra ‘F’ in NAFTA … for free and fair trade,” Trump said. “All of the statutory guidelines we’re adhering to. I would like to speed it up if possible.”
Trump expressed ambivalence about exactly how he wanted the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada to be retooled, as long as changes came quickly.
“I don’t care if it’s a renovation of NAFTA or a brand new NAFTA, but we do have to make it fair, and it’s very unfair to the American worker and very, very unfair to companies,” Trump said.
