President Trump has had a packed schedule for days since his inauguration. Yet, in his second week in the White House, between speeches, cabinet nominations, and spontaneous trips, Trump somehow had time to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday. He addressed, among other issues, trade.
The president reiterated his desire to change the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he says is a "disaster" in its current form and "very unfair" to the American worker. He had hoped that his commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross would be able to represent the U.S. in talks with our NAFTA partners, but expressed frustration that Congress has failed to hold a vote on his confirmation. Nevertheless, Trump seemed confident that Ross will be at the negotiations.
The administration fully intends to move forward on making changes to NAFTA, even the name itself.
President Trump: I'd like to speed up NAFTA talks https://t.co/h8KgMElNBb
— Pete Aspen (@peteaspen) February 2, 2017
"I want to change it," he said. "And maybe we do it - maybe we do a new NAFTA and we put an extra "F" in the term NAFTA. You know what the "F" is for, right? Free and fair trade - not just free trade; free and fair trade, because it's very unfair."
If Ross is not confirmed before the talks commence, well, Trump has already indicated that he's willing to have trade discussions by himself.