By Anna Edgerton and Toluse Olorunnipa
Bloomberg News
WASHINGTON —— President Donald Trump Sunday reaffirmed a campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA, indicating that he isn’t retreating from the opposition to free trade that was central to his election campaign.
Trump said he’ll meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to begin discussing the two-decade old North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has routinely blamed for the loss of U.S. jobs. Trump praised Mexico for being “terrific” and signaled that he’s willing to work with the U.S.’s closest neighbors.
“We’re going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration, and on security at the border,” Trump said at the start of a swearing-in ceremony for top White House staff. “I think we’re going to have a very good result for Mexico, for the United States, for everybody involved. It’s really very important.”
Political leaders and companies around the world are closely following Trump’s words for clues on how the protectionist rhetoric of his campaign will be translated into policies. Both his inaugural address and his brief remarks Sunday at the White House ceremony show that he isn’t bound by traditional Republican ideology on free trade if he sees it at odds with America’s interests.
The Mexican peso has fallen 18 percent since Trump won the Nov. 8 election. Trump repeatedly used Twitter to berate American and international companies that have manufacturing operations in Mexico, and has proposed a border tax to encourage production to stay in the U.S.
Trump spoke with Trudeau Saturday, and plans for additional meetings “in the days to come,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Pena Nieto is expected to meet with Trump on Jan. 31.
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