WASHINGTON — The Latest on the North American Free Trade Agreement (all times EDT):

President Donald Trump has told the leaders of Mexico and Canada that he will not pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The White House made the surprise announcement in a read-out of calls Wednesday between the world leaders.

The White House says the president “agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time.”

Instead, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation” of the trade deal to “the benefit of all three countries.”

He says he believes “that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better.”

President Donald Trump is considering signing a draft executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.

But it’s just one of a number of options being discussed.

Senior White House officials have been discussing steps that can be taken to start the process of renegotiating or withdrawing from NAFTA before the end of Trump’s first 100 days in office, according to a person familiar with the president’s thinking.

Trump railed against the decades-old trade deal during his campaign, describing it as a “disaster.”

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.

The official says a number of options remain on the table. </s> President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Thursday the United States, Canada and Mexico can successfully renegotiate a trade accord he deems unfair to American interests but vowed to scrap the 23-year-old pact if a "fair deal for all" cannot be reached.

Trump, in a meeting with Argentine president Mauricio Macri, said Thursday he had planned to terminate NAFTA, but decided to hold off after speaking to the leaders of Mexico and Canada to see if deal can be made.

"Rather than terminating NAFTA, which would be a pretty big shock to the system, we will renegotiate," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "If I'm unable to make a fair deal for the United States ... I will terminate NAFTA."

Trump's comments came a day after the White House decided against taking immediate steps to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact Trump has long condemned.

Instead of pursuing a termination order considered by some advisers, the White House said Trump told Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by telephone that the United States would seek to quickly begin renegotiating the pact.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump wrote on Twitter he had received calls from Pena Nieto and Trudeau.

"Relationships are good-deal very possible!" Trump wrote.

In Mexico City, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Wednesday's call, initiated by Pena Nieto and lasting about 20 minutes, focused exclusively on the looming talks over NAFTA's "renegotiation and modernization." Videgaray said Trump wanted to see the talks accelerated.

"I believe that all the conditions to reach a good negotiation exist, that will suit Mexico ... and that is also good for the region, for both Canada and the United States," Videgaray told local broadcaster Televisa, adding that relations between the United States and Mexico have experienced "enormous progress" during Trump's presidency.

Trump has criticized multinational trade agreements as unfair to the United States and made pulling out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiated by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, one of his first major acts after becoming president in January.

In Ottawa, a Canadian source familiar with the matter said Trudeau urged Trump not to withdraw from NAFTA, saying such action would be counterproductive.

Trump repeatedly has threatened to pull out of NAFTA, which erased most tariffs between the three neighbors, if he cannot renegotiate better terms for the United States, which went from running a small goods trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s to a $63-billion deficit in 2016.

Mexico, Canada and the United States form one of the world's biggest trading blocs, and trade disruptions among them could cause havoc in the automotive, agricultural, energy and other sectors.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Thursday that numerous "conceptual flaws" in the treaty needed to be addressed. Ross said Chinese goods dumped in Mexico are making their way into the United States.

"The rules of origin in NAFTA need some tightening," Ross said. "Rules of origin are what let material outside of NAFTA to come in and benefit from all the taxes and tariff reductions within NAFTA."

"It was a silly idea to let a lot of outside stuff in. The whole idea of a trade deal is to build a fence around participants inside and give them an advantage over the outside," Ross added. "So there's a conceptual flaw in that, one of many conceptual flaws in NAFTA."

The Mexican and Canadian currencies maintained their rebound early on Thursday after Trump's latest comments. The U.S. dollar dropped 0.3 percent against its Canadian counterpart and about 0.5 percent against the peso.

Trump's scorn toward international trade deals, part of his nationalist political message, appeals to Americans who feel such pacts have cost Americans jobs, and he has said businesses that choose to move plants outside the country would pay a price.

On Wednesday, the White House said Trump had spoken with Mexican and Canadian counterparts and agreed not to immediately move to terminate NAFTA. The announcement came hours after White House officials disclosed that Trump and his advisers had been considering an executive order to withdraw the United States from NAFTA, but there was a split among his top advisers over whether to take the step.

"The leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries," the White House said in a statement.

Trump long has accused Mexico of luring away American factories and jobs with cheap labor and other advantages enabled by NAFTA. On Tuesday, Trump said he did not fear a trade war with Canada even as he complained about Canadian trade practices.

His administration on Monday moved to impose tariffs on imported Canadian lumber that mostly feeds U.S. homebuilding, noting trade authorities have consistently sided with Ottawa in the long-standing dispute. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he intends to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and call its replacement “the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement” — a name that would exclude the third NAFTA partner, Canada.

Trump made the comments after announcing an “understanding” with Mexico that could lead to an overhaul of the 24-year-old trade pact, which Trump has called a job-killing “disaster.” Details of the U.S.-Mexico agreement were expected to be unveiled later Monday.

The president says he will be calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump says, “If they’d like to negotiate fairly, we’ll do that.”

He also threatened to tax Canadian auto imports to increase the pressure on Canada’s government.

“We could have a separate deal (with Canada) or we could put it into this deal,” Trump said.

Trump said Monday during an Oval Office event that he’ll be calling the emerging agreement the “United States-Mexico Trade Agreement.” He says it will mark the end of the NAFTA name.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was on speakerphone and says he hopes NAFTA partner Canada will eventually be incorporated into the deal.

Adam Austen, a spokesman for the Canadian Foreign Minister, says Canada had been in regular contact with the NAFTA negotiators.

“We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class,” said Austen. “Canada’s signature is required.” </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday that he was “psyched” to terminate the NAFTA trade deal with Canada and Mexico, but changed his mind after their leaders asked for it to be renegotiated instead.

Trump said in an interview with Reuters that he will not hesitate to change course again and pull the plug on the North American Free Trade Agreement if the negotiations become “unserious.”

His comments came at the end of a long 24 hours during which Ottawa and Mexico City were whipsawed over the Trump administration’s intentions over the 23-year-old trade pact.

“You know I was really ready and psyched to terminate NAFTA,” Trump said.

He decided that it would be better to terminate the trade deal after hearing about Wisconsin farmers’ struggles with new Canadian dairy rules that were shutting out their milk protein exports.

“You saw that, you wrote about it,” Trump said. “And I said I’ve had it. I’ve had it.”

But after administration officials said a withdrawal order was being prepared, Trump said he received phone calls from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking to renegotiate the pact.

“I’m not looking to hurt Canada and I’m not looking to hurt Mexico. They’re two countries I really like,” Trump said. “So they asked to renegotiate, and I said yes.”

News of the possible U.S. pullout from NAFTA rattled financial markets on Wednesday. Relative calm returned on Thursday after Trump’s comments, and the Mexican peso strengthened 0.86 percent against the U.S. dollar, while the Canadian dollar was flat versus the greenback.

Mexico, Canada and the United States form one of the world’s biggest trading blocs, and trade disruptions among them could adversely affect farm, automotive, energy and other sectors in all three countries. NAFTA removed most trade and tariff barriers between the neighbors, but Trump and other critics have blamed it for deep U.S. job cuts.

Trump campaigned for president last year on a pledge to pull out of NAFTA if he could not renegotiate better terms. The United States went from running a small goods trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s to a $63-billion deficit in 2016.

Asked by Reuters what would make NAFTA a fair deal, Trump said: “Open markets. Open borders for trade” and “Fairness, no government subsidies so that it makes it impossible for our people to compete.”

He added that if the NAFTA negotiations “become unserious, I will terminate.”

As Trump spoke, a new trade irritant between the United States and Canada emerged, as Boeing Co asked the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate alleged price dumping and unfair Canadian government subsidies for Bombardier Inc’s new Canadian-made CSeries jetliners.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) walks down the West Wing colonnade with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

‘GET TO WORK’

Trudeau told a news conference in Saskatchewan he had urged Trump not to withdraw from the trade pact and warned that doing so “would cause a lot of short- and medium-term pain.”

“That’s not something that either one of us would want, so we agreed that we could sit down and get to work on looking at ways to improve NAFTA,” Trudeau said.

Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States. On Tuesday, Trump said he did not fear a trade war with Canada, a day after his administration moved to impose tariffs on Canadian lumber.

In Mexico City, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Pena Nieto had called Trump on Wednesday and spoken with him for about 20 minutes in a conversation focused exclusively on the looming talks over NAFTA’s “renegotiation and modernization.”

Trump has accused Mexico of luring away American factories and jobs with cheap labor and other advantages enabled by NAFTA. During the presidential campaign he accused Mexico of sending rapists and criminals into the United States, and as president plans a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

One of Trump’s first major acts after becoming president in January was to pull out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiated by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

Several agriculture lobby groups in Washington were told U.S Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, confirmed by the Senate on Monday, met with Trump on Wednesday evening to dissuade him from withdrawing from NAFTA.

Slideshow (11 Images)

American Soybean Association President Ron Moore said, “When you’re talking about $3 billion in soybean exports a year, any threats to withdraw from agreements and walk away from markets makes farmers extremely nervous.”

Formal NAFTA talks likely will not get started until August. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office must first send Congress a notice that starts a 90-day consultation period preceding any negotiations.

A USTR spokeswoman said the notice would not be sent until the Senate confirmed Trump’s nominee for trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. </s> BUENOS AIRES: The United States, Canada and Mexico signed a North American trade pact on Friday, and President Donald Trump predicted an easy passage through U.S. Congress to approve the deal, despite opposition from some lawmakers.

The three leaders agreed on a deal in principle to govern the more than trillion dollars of mutual trade after a year and a half of acrimonious negotiations concluded with a late-night bargain just an hour before a deadline on Sept. 30.

Since then, the three sides have bickered over the wording and the finer points of the deal and still had not agreed just hours before officials were due to sit down and sign it as the G20 summit kicks off in Buenos Aires.

"It’s been long and hard. We’ve taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse and we got there," Trump said.

Legislators from the three countries still have to approve the pact, officially known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), before it goes into effect and replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

But the U.S. trade landscape will shift significantly in January when Democrats take control of the U.S. House of Representatives after winning midterm elections in November. House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has pledged to "closely scrutinize" the new pact.

However, Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Lightizer said they were confident the agreement would pass Congress.

"This was negotiated from the beginning to be a bipartisan agreement.... I think we’ll get the support of a lot of Democrats," he told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's spokesman only confirmed his attendance late on Thursday. Before signing the deal he continued to refer to as the new NAFTA, Trudeau told Trump the two should continue to work together to eliminate steel and aluminum tariffs.

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto joined the ceremony on his last day in office.

Trump had vowed to revamp NAFTA during his 2016 presidential election campaign. He threatened to tear it up and withdraw the U.S. completely at times during the negotiation, which would have left trade between the three neighbors in disarray.

Trump forced Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the 24-year-old agreement because he said the existing pact encouraged U.S. companies to move jobs to low-wage Mexico.

U.S. objections to Canada's protected internal market for dairy products was a major challenge facing negotiators during the talks, and Trump repeatedly demanded concessions and accused Canada of hurting U.S. farmers.

BDI, Germany's main industry association, said in a statement the agreement's rules on preferential origin for the automotive sector would be stricter and more complex, calling it "a retrograde step compared with NAFTA." </s> President Donald Trump addresses business and trade issues on Monday. Highlights of the day follow:BUSINESS

 Trump meets with a dozen prominent American manufacturers at the White House, promising to cut regulations and corporate taxes but warning them of penalties if they move production outside the country.TRADE

 Trump could sign an executive order on Monday intended to renegotiate the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, NBC News reported.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau begins a retreat with his Cabinet focusing mainly on the best approach to take with Trump, whose vow to renegotiate NAFTA could damage the nation's economy.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying Trump understands the value of free trade, vows to keep pitching a multinational pact that Trump's administration has vowed to exit.British Prime Minister Theresa May will champion free trade and also voice her support for the Iran nuclear deal when she meets Trump later this week, her spokeswoman said.

Mexico is ready to renegotiate trade rules with the United States but any change in U.S. policy that affected imports would be countered with a "mirror action" in Mexico.FOREIGN LEADERS

 The Kremlin expects to agree soon on a date for the first phone call between President Vladimir Putin and Trump, but there is no word on when they will meet.

Gulf Arab states are quietly applauding the arrival in the White House of a hawkish leader opposed to their adversary Iran, even if they suspect Trump might at times heighten tensions in the Middle East.LAWSUIT

 A group files suit against Trump, accusing him of violating the "emoluments" clause of the U.S. Constitution by allowing his hotels and other businesses to accept payments from foreign governments.

MARKET IMPACT

 For financial markets, the Trump era begins on Monday. If history is any guide, the following month should be a rocky one for Wall Street but positive for the dollar.AFGHANISTAN

 The Taliban calls on Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the "quagmire" of Afghanistan, saying nothing has been achieved in 15 years of war except bloodshed and destruction. (Compiled by Bill Trott; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Meredith Mazzilli)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — President Donald Trump joined the leaders of Canada and Mexico at a global meeting in Argentina on Friday (Nov. 30) to sign a revised North American trade pact, fulfilling a longstanding political promise with a deal he celebrated as a “groundbreaking achievement.”

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is meant to replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has long denigrated as a "disaster." However, ongoing differences over steel and aluminum tariffs the U.S. has imposed on its northern and southern neighbors encroached on the celebratory moment.

Trump appeared with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the Group of 20 nations summit in Buenos Aires for the formal signing ceremony. Each country's legislature must also approve the agreement.

"It's been long and hard. We've taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse and we got there," Trump said of the pact. "It's great for all our countries."

Legislative approval is the next step in the process, but could prove to be a difficult task in the United States, especially now that Democrats — instead of Trump's Republicans — will control the House of Representatives come January. Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are already demanding changes to the agreement.

Within hours of the signing, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that for the deal to get majority support in Congress, it must have stronger labor and environmental protections and "must prove to be a net benefit to middle-class families and working people."

While Trump hailed the revised trade pact, Trudeau was more measured and used the event to call on Trump to remove the steel and aluminum tariffs the U.S. slapped on Canada and Mexico. Trudeau also referenced recent downsizing by General Motors in North America as a "heavy blow." Trump did not mention the job losses.

"With hard work, good will and determination I'm confident that we will get there," Trudeau said.

Pena Nieto, who will handoff to his successor Saturday, said he was honored to be at the signing on the last day of his administration, saying it is the culmination of a long process "that allow us to overcome differences and to conciliate our visions."

The signing came at the front end of two days of tough diplomacy for Trump. On the top of his agenda is a Saturday dinner meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping. which will determine if the two can ease escalating trade tensions. Before Trump arrived in Argentina he injected additional drama into the proceedings by canceling another high-stakes meeting, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Friday, Trump opened the day with a cordial meeting at the Casa Rosada with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, a longtime business acquaintance. Posing for photos in the gilded Salón Blanco, Trump spoke about their longtime personal relationship and said they would discuss trade, military purchases and other issues.

"We've known each other a long while," Trump said, noting he worked with Macri's father on real estate developments. The businessman-turned-politician joked that when he and Macri first met they'd never have imagined their future roles on the world stage.

Macri is hosting the summit as he struggles with problems at home. He is trying to halt economic turmoil that has caused the steep depreciation of the Argentine peso.

Trump, who arrived in Buenos Aires late Thursday, barreled into the two-day meeting by announcing via Twitter that he was canceling a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's seizure of Ukrainian vessels. His agenda for the weekend includes meetings with world leaders, as well as a number of heavily choreographed group activities for the gathering of leaders of rich and developing nations.

Trump faces a series of diplomatic challenges over the weekend, most notably whether he can strike an agreement with Xi.

The president canceled on Putin not long after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, revealed he had lied to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating a real estate deal in Moscow on Trump's behalf during the Republican presidential primary in 2016. The news ensured any meeting with Putin would have put a spotlight on the special counsel's investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow during the campaign. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump showed that the Russia investigation was testing his ability to stay focused on summit business after he blasted the investigation in a fresh tweet on Friday, again calling it a "Witch Hunt!"

One looming question is whether Trump will have a run-in with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid global dismay over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the Saudi crown prince must have at least known of the plot to kill Khashoggi, who was critical of the Saudi royal family. Lawmakers in both parties have called on Trump to at least avoid the young heir apparent as punishment.

But Trump publicly announced his decision to effectively give the prince a pass in the name of "America First," making vastly exaggerated claims of Saudi military contracts and investments in the United States. The president also views Saudi Arabia as a vital counterbalance to Iranian influence in the Middle East.

Asked Thursday why the two had no meeting scheduled, Trump said: “I would have met with him but we didn’t set that one up.” </s> USMCA: Trump Signs New Trade Agreement With Mexico And Canada To Replace NAFTA

Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Updated at 8:25 a.m. ET

President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the new U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement — or USMCA — in Buenos Aires Friday, using the backdrop of the G-20 Summit to resolve a trade dispute between America and its closest neighbors.

"Let's go," all three leaders said as they sat alongside each other to sign multiple copies of the deal.

They then shuffled binders around in front of them, to finalize the deal that remakes one of the world's largest free trade zones. When the signing was over, they paused for a photo-op. "Might as well hold that up," Trump said, displaying the fresh signatures as the three leaders sat together.

Despite that and other prodding, Trudeau opted not to follow his peers in holding up his binder to celebrate — a sign, perhaps, of the lingering effects of the contentious process that was triggered when Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada earlier this year, which remain in place.

The signing event and the leaders' remarks were livestreamed. You can watch the event here.

YouTube

In the lead-up to the signing, Canadian officials had "made it clear they didn't want to celebrate the end of a year of U.S. attempts to twist Canada's arm with the tariffs still in place," the CBC reports. But that wish ran counter to the desires of Trump and Peña Nieto, both of whom have preferred to portray the deal as a victory that helps to cement their legacies.

"This has been a battle, and battles sometimes make great friendships," Trump said at the start of the signing ceremony.

Saying all three countries will benefit from the deal, Trump said of the USMCA, "It is probably the largest trade deal ever made."

The USMCA (read the whole text here) replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, which had created a free trade zone between the three countries back in 1994. The deal will require ratification by all three countries' legislatures before taking effect.

"The biggest change this deal makes, really, is to the automotive sector," NPR's Scott Horsley reports, "where it does put higher requirements on North American content, and in particular high-wage content, for vehicles to trade duty-free."

The USMCA deal emerged in early October, months after President Trump hit Mexico and Canada with tariffs on their steel and aluminum products. That move set off retaliatory tariffs and intense negotiations to create a new trade pact.

Calling the deal "the new North American Free Trade Agreement, Trudeau said it "lifts the risk of serious economic uncertainty that lingers throughout a trade renegotiation process — uncertainty that would have only gotten worse and more damaging if we had not reached a new NAFTA."

There is more work to be done, Trudeau said, calling the recent announcement that General Motors will close plants in Canada and the U.S. "a heavy blow."

Turning to address Trump, said "And Donald, it's all the more reason why we need to keep working to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our countries."

"General Motors has said that those steel and aluminum tariffs robbed it of a billion dollars in profits in the last year," Scott Horsley reports. In June, GM also warned the Trump administration that new tariffs could result in "a smaller GM."

When it was his turn to speak, Peña Nieto said the trade agreement includes provisions for e-commerce and informational technology — subjects that he said made it necessary to update NAFTA.

"In fact, one-third of the agreement includes topics that were not included in the first agreement," he said.

Peña Nieto also said the USMCA "is the first trade agreement that incorporates elements that address the social impact of international trade; it enables the participation of more sectors in the economy."

Among those provisions, he said, are protections for workers' rights and the environment, and elements that seek to extend the benefits of free trade more broadly.

The signing took place on Peña Nieto's final day in office; Mexico's newly elected president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will be sworn in on Saturday.

Shortly before the signing ceremony, Peña Nieto awarded presidential senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor Mexico gives to foreigners.

The move "shocked many in Mexico," as NPR's Carrie Kahn reported earlier this week, referring to the outrage and anger that has poured out online.

Later in the G-20 meetings, Trump will turn to another high-profile trade crisis, when he has dinner on Saturday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. </s> The leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States signed a North American trade pact on Friday after brinkmanship over the final details of the deal continued through the eve of the signing.

They agreed on a deal in principle to govern the more than trillion dollars of mutual trade after a year and a half of acrimonious negotiations concluded with a late-night bargain just an hour before a deadline on Sept. 30.

Since then, the three sides have bickered over the wording and the finer points of the deal and still had not agreed just hours before officials were due to sit down and sign it as the G20 summit kicks off in Buenos Aires.

Legislators from the three countries still have to approve the pact, officially known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), before it goes into effect and replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's spokesman only confirmed his attendance late on Thursday. Before signing the deal he continued to refer to as "the New NAFTA," Trudeau told Trump the two should continue to work together to eliminate steel and aluminum tariffs.

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto joined the ceremony on his last day in office.

Trump had vowed to revamp NAFTA during his 2016 presidential election campaign. He threatened to tear it up and withdraw the U.S. completely at times during the negotiation, which would have left trade between the three neighbors in disarray.

Trump forced Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the 24-year-old agreement because he said the existing pact encouraged U.S. companies to move jobs to low-wage Mexico. U.S. objections to Canada's protected internal market for dairy products was a major challenge facing negotiators during the talks, and Trump repeatedly demanded concessions and accused Canada of hurting U.S. farmers.

A side letter to the September agreement showed that Trump preserved the ability to impose threatened 25 percent global tariffs on autos while largely exempting passenger vehicles, pickup trucks and auto parts from Canada and Mexico.

"It's been long and hard. We've taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse, but we got there," Trump said of the pact.

Legislative approval is the next step in the process, but could prove to be a difficult task in the United States, especially now that Democrats – instead of Trump's Republicans – will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes to the agreement.

While Trump hailed the revised trade pact, Trudeau was more measured, saying there was still work to be done and calling on Trump – using his first name – to remove steel and aluminum tariffs the U.S. imposed on Canada and Mexico. Trudeau also referenced recent downsizing by General Motors in North America as a "heavy blow." Trump did not mention the job losses.

The signing came at the front end of two days of tough diplomacy for Trump. On the top of his agenda is a Saturday dinner meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping. which will determine if the two can ease escalating trade tensions.

Overhanging the summit in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, is a trade dispute between the United States and China, the world's two largest economies, which have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's imports. All eyes will be on a planned dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday to see whether they can make progress toward resolving differences threatening the global economy.

Beijing hopes to persuade Trump to abandon plans to hike tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent in January, from 10 percent at present.

"We hope the U.S. can show sincerity and meet China half way, to promote a proposal that both countries can accept," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a briefing in Beijing.

Trump faces a series of diplomatic challenges over the weekend, most notably whether he can strike an agreement with Xi.

Before departing Washington on Thursday, Trump said he was "very close" to reaching a deal with China but added "I don't know that I want to do it because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes."

The U.S. began hiking tariffs on Chinese goods earlier this year and Beijing has responded in a tit-for-tat fashion, sparking tensions that a full trade war could erupt.

Trump increased additional duties imposed on Chinese goods this year from 10 percent to 25 percent next January. The U.S. president also said he is considering levying extra tariffs on another $267 billion worth of Chinese imports should Beijing retaliate.

With his "America First" approach, general distaste for multinational deals and habit of insulting allies, Trump typically gets a mixed reception at global gatherings.

Trump has slapped tariffs on the European Union, pulled the U.S. out of the landmark Paris Climate Accord and the Iran nuclear deal and suggested he might be willing to pull the U.S. out of NATO if member countries don't significantly boost their defense spending.

Ending the NAFTA would have meant tearing up the continent's closely integrated auto supply chain. But Ottawa, Mexico City and Washington have now agreed to sweeping changes to manufacturing and labor requirements that U.S. officials say should boost wages and discourage moving production offshore.

The deal will require that 75 percent of auto content be made in the region, increased from 62.5 percent, and that 40-45 percent be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour.

Mexico also agreed to continue to recognize U.S. auto safety standards, unless Mexican regulators conclude they are inferior to their own standards.

Trump has threatened to use a national security justification to impose steep tariffs on the hundreds of billions of dollars in autos the U.S. imports annually. But the USMCA includes side letters that agree to exempt Mexico and Canada up to a threshold of 2.6 million vehicles a year, as well as an unspecified amount of light trucks, and tens of billions of dollars in auto parts.

However, the new deal does not resolve the punishing steel and aluminum tariffs imposed worldwide earlier this year, and on Mexico and Canada since May.

Canada, which guarantees prices for its dairy producers through its managed supply system, agreed to open its borders a little wider to American milk, cheese, cream, butter and other goods.

The concession from Ottawa removed a major sticking point that Trump said was a deal breaker. Canada will also eliminate categories of low-cost dairy goods and will allow greater imports of U.S. chicken, eggs and turkey.

The U.S. agreed to Canada's insistence that the dispute settlement system – formerly known as Chapter 19 – remain in the deal. Canadian officials resolutely rejected Trump's demand to scrap provisions to resolve disagreements through international arbitration, something Ottawa has successfully used to challenge U.S. tariffs.

However, the agreement does make some changes to the more controversial "Investor-State Dispute Settlement" powers, which critics said had allowed powerful companies and wealthy investors to invalidate local laws and court decisions through unaccountable arbitration.

The new agreement requires that signatories allow equal copyright treatment for writers, composers and others from member countries, requiring a minimum term of the author's life plus 70 years for copyrighted works.

When NAFTA took effect in 1994, e-commerce hardly existed in its current form and modernizing its provisions was a key premise of the talks. The new agreement prohibits customs duties for digitally distributed goods like software and games, e-books, music and movies.

It would also limit local governments' powers to force companies to disclose propriety source code or place restrictions on where data may be stored.

Tucked in the agreement is a provision that appears designed to stop either Canada or Mexico from seeking a better deal with Beijing. If any signatory seeks to enter into a free-trade agreement with a "non-market-economy" – read China – the other parties will then be allowed to cancel the three-country deal and replace it with a bilateral agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, softening earlier claims that he would terminate the trade bloc.