President Trump made several campaign promises to pull the United States out of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during the 2016 presidential election cycle. Among the many criticisms, Trump has regularly called the trade agreement one of the worst deals the U.S. has ever made.
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Earlier in the week, Trump announced that he would not terminate the deal as promised, but would instead choose his other option of renegotiating it:
Trump: I “was going to terminate NAFTA as of 2 or 3 days from now” but Trudeau/Peña Nieto asked “could you please renegotiate” & I like them pic.twitter.com/N447uS2IbV
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 27, 2017
RELATED: Nah-FTA: The Trump administration is said to be preparing to break from the landmark trade deal
Trump explained on Thursday why he made the decision to renegotiate the deal despite his tough campaign rhetoric.
“Well, I was going to terminate NAFTA as of two or three days ago,” he admitted.
Trump said that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who he stated have very good relationships with him — called and asked him to change his position.
“I like them very much. I respect their countries very much. The relationship is very special. And I said, ‘I will hold on the termination, let’s see if we can make it a fair deal,'” he said.