Trump Discounts Report He Might Quit NAFTA

President Donald Trump reiterates his intent to renegotiation but not abandon the North American Fair Trade Agreement, rejecting a report to the contrary on Wednesday by Politico LLC.

The nonpartisan political and policy website said Trump aides were drafting an executive order to withdraw from the country’s 23-year-old agreement with Canada and Mexico. But late in the day the White House said Trump made phone calls to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico President Enrique Nieto to pledge he will “not to terminate NAFTA at this time.”

Trump added, “It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation.” Canada and Mexico previously signaled a willingness to review the agreement.

During his campaign, Trump vowed to either rebalance NAFTA to bolster American jobs or withdraw from the deal and impose import tariffs on goods from the two countries.

But both political parties have been uneasy about significantly disrupting the complex web of trade among the three countries. They fear that doing so could do as much harm as good to the job market, a point of view expressed by the auto industry over the past few months.