Donald Trump’s team is readying an executive order to take the US out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), it has been reported
Withdrawing from the trade agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the US was one of Mr Trump’s key promises on the campaign trail in 2016. He claimed it is a “job killer” and was antithetical to his “America First” approach to governing.
The order has been submitted for final review to the appropriate teams within the White House and may be signed as early as the next few days.
The deal, one of the largest trade agreement in the world, was originally signed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton and allows free trade between the three countries in North America.
Mr Trump speaking in Wisconsin recently said that the agreement has been “very, very bad for our companies and for our workers, and we’re going to make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of Nafta once and for all.”
The White House confirmed that Peter Navarro, head of the National Trade Council, drafted the bill with Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Politico reported.
This is not Mr trump’s first foray into withdrawing the US from major trade agreements. Early in his term, he took the US out of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was close to being fully approved among the 12 nations participating.
