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Trump credits protectionist policies for revised trade agreement

Posted at 10:21 AM, Oct 01, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-01 12:24:51-04

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on a revamped North American free trade deal (all times local):

12:20 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he’s “not at all confident” Congress will approve his revised North American trade deal. He says Democrats will have the 2020 presidential race in mind and might not want to approve what he calls “one of the great deals” for the American people.

Trump said on Monday he hopes members of Congress will ratify the agreement if they think it’s a fair deal for the United States.

But Trump says he can’t predict what the members of Congress will do because they might want to reject it for political reasons just to oppose him. Trump says, “I can’t tell you whether they will” approve it.

Trump calls the pact for the United States, Mexico and Canada the “most important deal we’ve ever made by far.”

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11:50 a.m.

President Donald Trump is crediting his protectionist trade policies for bringing about a revised trade agreement with Mexico and Canada.

Trump spoke in the Rose Garden on Monday to promote the new North American free trade agreement, which he calls the USMCA. Trump says, “Without tariffs we wouldn’t be talking about a deal.”

Trump calls critics of his tariff policies, including some lawmakers in Congress, “babies.” He adds it is those moves that have brought American trading partners to the negotiating table.

Trump says tariffs are pushing the European Union, Japan and South Korea to seek out new trade agreements with the U.S.

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11:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump is celebrating his latest revamped trade agreement with America’s two neighbors and is calling the pact for the United States, Mexico and Canada the USMCA.

He said Monday the deal has a “good ring to it,” repeating U-S-M-C-A several times.

The agreement was reached late Sunday and gives U.S. farmers greater access to the Canadian dairy market. But it keeps the former North American Free Trade Agreement dispute-resolution process that the U.S. wanted to jettison. It offers Canada protection if Trump goes ahead with plans to impose tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts imported into the United States.

Trump said in the Rose Garden on Monday the pact is the “most important deal we’ve ever made by far.”

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11:15 a.m.

Mexico’s future foreign relations secretary says the new trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada “provides certainty for financial markets, investment and job creation.”

Marcelo Ebrard also acknowledged Monday “some of the new regulations, like the changes in the content rules, may pose some challenges for companies to adapt to.”

Outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto said via Twitter on Monday the deal negotiated over the last 13 months “achieves what we proposed at the beginning: a win-win-win agreement.”

Pena Nieto leaves office Dec. 1. He’ll be replaced by President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who tapped Ebrard to be his foreign relations secretary.

U.S. President Donald Trump says the new agreement is a “great deal.”

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8:15 a.m.

President Donald Trump will make a statement about a revamped North American free trade deal at 11 a.m. Monday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that Trump will speak from the Rose Garden.

The agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada came together Sunday, just before a midnight deadline imposed by the U.S.

The new deal will be called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. It replaces the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump called a job-killing disaster.

The agreement gives U.S. farmers greater access to the Canadian dairy market. But it keeps a NAFTA dispute-resolution process that the U.S. wanted to jettison and offers Canada protection if Trump goes ahead with plans to impose tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts imported into the United States.

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1:40 a.m.

Canada is back in a revamped North American free trade deal with the United States and Mexico after weeks of bitter, high-pressure negotiations that brushed up against a midnight deadline.

In a joint statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland say the agreement “will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities…”

The new deal, reached just before a midnight deadline imposed by the U.S., will be called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It replaces the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which President Donald Trump had called a job-killing disaster.

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