Trump hails trade pact with Canada, Mexico as win for U.S. workers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday touted a new free trade deal with Canada and Mexico as a win for U.S. workers while investors breathed a sigh of relief that the key pillars of NAFTA had survived his hardball strategy to reshape global commerce.

Washington and Ottawa reached an agreement on Sunday after weeks of tense bilateral talks to update the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. The United States forged a separate trade deal with Mexico, the third member of NAFTA, in August.

The new agreement, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), is aimed at bringing more jobs into the United States, with Canada and Mexico accepting more restrictive commerce with the United States, their main export partner.

“These measures will support many - hundreds of thousands - American jobs,” Trump said at the White House, describing the trade deal as “the most important” the United States had ever made.

Any U.S. job gains are likely years away, but the deal provides Trump with a victory that he can tout at campaign rallies over the next month on behalf of fellow Republicans running in the Nov. 6 congressional elections.

Speaking in Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the pact removed uncertainty though he conceded Canada had made some difficult compromises. Canada’s dairy industry criticized him for giving more market access to U.S. imports.

“We had to make compromises, and some were more difficult than others,” Trudeau said in a press conference. “We never believed that it would be easy, and it wasn’t, but today is a good day for Canada.”

Initial U.S. reaction was effusive, with auto workers, dairy farmers and wheat producers saying the deal would likely create job opportunities and open up agricultural markets. - Read More

Trump hails trade pact with Canada, Mexico as win for U.S. workers