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U.S., Mexico move beyond NAFTA

President Donald Trump announced an agreement Monday between Mexico and the United States to revise trade agreements, dropping the name NAFTA — North American Free Trade Agreement — and pressuring Canada to join or be left behind.

“It’s a big day for trade,” Trump said, according to pool reports. “It’s a big day for our country.”

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, quickly issued a statement applauding the progress and encouraging progress to bring Canada into the deal as well.

“This conceptual agreement with Mexico is an encouraging development as we work to renegotiate NAFTA,” Stefanik wrote in a statement.

“It is vital that we continue our efforts to reach a positive agreement with Canada as well, as our district’s economy relies on this critical relationship.”

Stefanik also touted the benefits of NAFTA for New York state.

“In fact, since NAFTA took effect in 1994, New York has added 2.7 million new jobs,” she wrote. “During my visits with businesses and families across our district, it is clear that uncertainty over NAFTA is already having real consequences for our region and these will only grow if a conceptual agreement with Canada is not reached soon.”

Trump, however, has been highly skeptical of NAFTA and said that ditching the name would end negative associations with a bad deal.

“They use to call it NAFTA,” he said, according to pool reports. “We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico trade agreement. We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was treated very, very badly for NAFTA.”

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in a statement sent to the Times that she hopes the new deal would be an improvement over NAFTA but did not mention Canada.

“I have not yet seen all of the details of the new trade agreement between the United States and Mexico, but any trade deal must protect American workers from unfair competition and help protect our overall health and safety,” Gillibrand wrote. “A good trade deal should increase made-in-America manufacturing, protect American intellectual property, ensure a strong services industry, and work to serve our farmers. NAFTA fell short of that goal, and I look forward to learning more about the new agreement to see if it works better to help strengthen our economy.”

The office of Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., did not return a request for comment.

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