01 July 2018•Update: 02 July 2018
By Ovunc Kutlu
NEW YORK
President Donald Trump said Sunday he wants to wait until after the midterm elections in November to sign a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico.
“NAFTA, I could sign it tomorrow, but I’m not happy with it. I want to make it more fair, okay?” Trump told Fox News in an exclusive interview.
"I want to wait until after the election. You’re going to have an election. I think it’ll be very interesting. I think it’s going to be fine," he added.
Trump called NAFTA as "the worst deal ever" during his campaign and presidency.
After taking office, he requested the agreement to be renegotiated in order to make it "fair" for his country, with the aim of reducing the U.S. trade deficit.
NAFTA has been in effect since the beginning of 1994, but renegotiations between the U.S., Canada and Mexico started last year and are still ongoing.
However, Trump imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports of the U.S. in March has strained relations between the three countries.
Canada responded to the U.S. on Friday by imposing $12.6 billion in retaliatory tariffs against American products that will take effect on Sunday.
