President Donald Trump acknowledged the 'long and hard' road that the United States, Canada and Mexico took to Friday's signing of a new trade pact but said 'great friendships' came out of it.
'I am honored to be here with President Enrique Peña Nieto – who’s become a great friend – of Mexico and with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has also become a great friend. It’s been a battle and battles sometimes make great friendships,' Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the signing ceremony at the G20 summit.
'We worked hard on this agreement. It’s been long and hard. We’ve taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse and we got there. It’s great for all of our countries,' he said.
The signing of the trade pact came to fruitation after more than a year of contentious negotiations that came right down to the wire.
U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto attend the USMCA signing ceremony
Negotiations went down to the wire with questions as late as Thursday night on whether Trudeau would attend Friday's signing
Trump told Trudeau the trade battle had made them great friends
As late as Thursday night questions remained on whether the signing would take place after the ceremony didn't appear on Trudeau's official schedule and he told reporters Canada is 'still in discussions with the Americans' about the deal before he left for Buenos Aires.
But the three leaders sat down to put ink to paper, signing a deal that has a few questions hanging over it - mainly the fate of steel and aluminum tariffs the U.S. imposed on its North American neighbors.
Trudeau made a personal plea to Trump during the ceremony to get rid of the tariffs, saying the recent closures of auto plants by General Motors in the United States and Canada made it more important for cooperation.
'Donald it's all the more reason we need to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our two countries,' Trudeau said.
Trump and Trudeau have had a rough relationship in the past, fighting over the steel tariffs the president implemented that resulted in Trump calling Trudeau 'meek and mild' after a G7 meeting in Canada this summer.
The two men shook hands on Friday and thanked each other for their work on the trade pact but no formal meeting is scheduled between while they're both here for the G20.
And Trudeau did not refer to the agreement by Trump's moniker - the USMCA - but instead called it the 'new North American Free Trade Agreement.'
The Canadian prime minister explained he attended the ceremony because the agreement 'maintains stability for Canada's entire economy' and removes the dangers associated with a threatened U.S. withdrawal.
Trump, meanwhile, treated the event as a celebration.
He also thanked his son-in-law Jared Kushner for his work on the deal and gave shout outs to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House economic adviser Peter Navarro.
Kushner sat in the front row next to his wife Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter.
Ivanka Trump sat in the front row of the trade pact signing
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (left) also attended
In the second row were White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser John Bolton, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. White House deputy chief of staff Bill Shine was also there.
Trump praised the deal in the lavish language he uses when touting one of his administration's accomplishments.
'In short, this is a model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever and this is an agreement that first and foremost benefits working people, something of great importance to all three of us here today,' he said.
He called the signing a 'very historic occasion' and noted the trade deal was one that would be the 'envy of nations all around the world.'
He also claimed the USMCA - as he named the replacement for NAFTA - would bring back U.S. auto jobs and was 'an amazing deal for our farmers.'
'The new agreement will assure a new prosperity,' he added.
The signing by the three leaders was a formality - it was the three of them issuing a directive to their trade representatives to finish the final pact.
And the legislative bodies in each nation will have to ratify the treat.
Trump, however, didn't appear to think he'd have a problem getting it through Congress.
'It's been so well reviewed I don't anticipate much of a problem,' he said.
The signing for President Donald Trump's new North American trade deal appeared in jeopardy Thursday night
The signing ceremony for the trade agreement is not on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's schedule for the G20
The three nations had a bitter, year-long fight over the trade pact before reaching an 11th-hour deal in October, right as the deadline hit.
Friday's signing ceremony is a crowning moment for Trump, who loves to tout his deal-making prowess.
When the agreement was reached in October, the president called it 'truly historic news for our nation and the world.'
There is no formal meeting between Trump and Trudeau on either leader's schedule for the Friday and Saturday summit.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters here on Thursday that there was still some fine tuning to do on the new trade pact before they would sign.
'Our objective has always been to sign this agreement on Nov. 30 and we are on track to hit that objective,' Freeland said shortly after the Canadian delegation arrived in Argentina, according to the Canadian Press.
And U.S. Trade Repsentative Robert Lighthizer told reporters after the ceremony that negotiations were continuing on the steel and aluminum tariffs.
'We want an agreement that’s fair to Mexico and fair to Canada but maintains the integrity of the president’s steel and aluminum programs,' he said.
Canada´s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and first lady Sophie Gregoire arrive in Buenos Aires
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump leaving for Buenos Aires
And dairy remains a sticking point with the influential Canadian dairy lobby urging Trudeau's government not to sign the trade deal as it gives the United States expanded access to Canada's dairy, egg, and poultry markets.
'A vast number of technical details need to be scrubbed and wrapped up,' Freeland said. 'The fact that this is an agreement in three languages adds to the level of technical complexity and it is on that level that we are just being sure that all the Is are dotted and all the Ts are crossed.'
The Friday deadline is important as new Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrado is being swore into office on Saturday and he could scramble the hard-fought agreement between the three nations.
Outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is attending the G20 meeting.
'It'll be your last day in office and its' a very auspicious day when you can sign something,' Trump told Nieto at the ceremony.
'It's really an incredible way to end a presidency,' he said.
Link hienalouca.comhttps://hienalouca.com/2018/11/30/trump-signs-trade-deal-with-canada-and-mexico/
Main photo article President Donald Trump acknowledged the ‘long and hard’ road that the United States, Canada and Mexico took to Friday’s signing of a new trade pact but said ‘great friendships’ came out of it.
‘I am honored to be here with President Enrique Peña Nieto – who’s b...
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Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
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