President Trump said Thursday that wants to rebrand the North American Free Trade Agreement as the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement or USMC for short, but may limit it to just the USM pact if he cannot reach an agreement with Canada regarding the deal he negotiated with Mexico.
The comments were made during a private meeting with a small group of Republican donors, according to Dow Jones newswire. Trump has often called for getting rid of the NAFTA, saying he believes it has developed negative connotations.
USMC is already an acronym often used to reference the U.S. Marine Corps.
In a late August press conference Trump said, “We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt badly by NAFTA for many years. And now it’s a very good deal for both countries.”
The White House has said that the deal with Mexico would “supplant” NAFTA and referred to it as “United States-Mexico Trade Agreement.” The administration has said it wouldn’t need Canada’s support. It has nevertheless engaged in talks with Canada to get its assent to the deal. Many in Congress are wary of approving a deal that could disrupt NAFTA.
The issues holding up an agreement are disputes over Canada’s dairy and grain policies, Greg Doud, the chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office told the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday.
