US demands big NAFTA changes, setting stage for tough talks
WASHINGTON — The United States won’t settle for cosmetic changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the top U.S. trade negotiator said, as negotiations to rework terms of the pact began.
President Donald Trump has called the 23-year-old trade pact the “worst” in history and vowed to fix it — or withdraw from it.
On the first of five days of talks, U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer said Wednesday that Trump “is not interested in a mere tweaking of a few provisions and an updating of a few chapters. We believe NAFTA has fundamentally failed many, many Americans and needs major improvement.”
NAFTA did away with most barriers, including tariffs, on trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.