A NAFTA logo is seen during the fifth round of NAFTA talks involving the United States, Mexico and Canada, in Mexico City, Mexico, Nov. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States has reached a trade agreement with Mexico that would pave the way for overhauling the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday.
"We're going to call it the United States-Mexico trade agreement," Trump said at an event in the Oval Office with outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto joining by conference call.
"We'll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years," he said.
Pena Nieto insisted during the conference call that Canada should also be included in a final deal.
"It is our wish, Mr. President, that now Canada will also be able to be incorporated in all this. And I assume that they are going to carry out negotiations on the sensitive bilateral issues between Canada and the United States," he said through a translator.
Trump said he would speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a little while and hoped to resume negotiations with Canada soon.
"One way or another we'll have a deal with Canada. It'll either be a tariff on cars or it'll be a negotiated deal," he said.
A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday that Canada will "continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA," but would only sign a new agreement that is good for the country.
"We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class. Canada's signature is required," the spokesman said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, at the same event in the Oval Office, said he expects to submit a notice to Congress on Friday and the new trade agreement is likely to be signed at the end of November.
But it remains unclear whether Canada will be part of the final pact.
Talks on renegotiating the NAFTA began in August 2017 as Trump threatened to withdraw from the trilateral trade deal, which he claimed harmed U.S. industries and jobs.
