As Foreign Minister Chrystia from Canada arrives in Washington DC to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is interviewed by CNBC.

Triple Play: Finalize NAFTA (or two bilats); fill in the details on previously agreed EU deal; then face-down red dragon (China).

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Additionally, Mnuchin had some impromptu remarks (below):

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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow holds an impromptu press gaggle at the White House to field questions about trade and related MAGAnomic matters.

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Additionally Kudlow had some scheduled media appearances (below).

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox News to discuss the U.S-Mexico trade agreement and the unlikely possibility of Canada to join the agreement.  In order for Canada to join the agreement they would need to remove protectionist tariffs (dairy); remove subsidies to several sectors (lumber, aeronautics); and in large measure open their economy to free, fair and reciprocal trade.

Additionally, The Wall Street corporations who have exploited NAFTA for strategic financial advantage are unhappy with the removal of the NAFTA loopholes.

Melania and I are thrilled to welcome you. And these are very special friends of mine, Evangelical pastors and leaders from all across the nation. We welcome you to the White House. Its a special place. Its a place we love. Were having a lot of fun, were having a lot of success.

Today we reached the highest level in the history of the stock market. We broke 26,000 — (applause) — so I assume you have some stock. And I view that differently. Were respected all over the world again, and it means jobs. So its a lot of good things happening.

I also want to thank a family of faith that is truly a blessing to our nation. I want to thank Vice President Mike Pence and Karen Pence. Where are you, Mike? (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, Mike.

And our incredible First Lady for hosting this evening. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

America is a nation of believers. And tonight were joined by faith leaders from across the country who believe in the dignity of life, the glory of God, and the power of prayer. Everybody agree with that?

AUDIENCE: Yes! (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: If you didn’t, wed have a big story, wouldn’t we? (Laughter.)

I want to say a special thank you to Paula White, Alveda King, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Darrell Scott, Robert Jeffress, Ralph Reed, Tony Perkins, Lester Warner, and everyone here tonight. So many great, great leaders. Incredible leaders. I know you, I watch you, I see you. Yours are the words we want to hear.

I also understand that tonight is the 58th wedding anniversary. So we have a very big wedding — where is he? Dr. James and Shirley Dobson. Where are they? (Applause.) Where are they? Thats great. Congratulations. That’s something.

MRS. DOBSON: Thank you for throwing a party of us tonight. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right. This is a party for you. We can look at it that way, actually. (Laughter.) Thank you. Congratulations.

Were also joined by Secretary Alex Azar, Secretary Ben Carson – hello, Ben – (applause) — and Ambassador Sam Brownback. (Applause.)

Before going any further, I want to extend our prayers and condolences to the victims of the tragic shooting in Jacksonville, Florida. That was a terrible thing indeed. And how it happens, nobody really knows. But they’ve done an incredible job down in Jacksonville, as they always do in Florida and throughout the country. But condolences.

Also, our hearts and prayers are going to the family of Senator John McCain. There’s going to be a lot of activity over the next number of days. And we very much appreciate everything that Senator McCain has done for our country. So thank you very much. (Applause.)

Were here this evening to celebrate Americas heritage of faith, family, and freedom. As you know, in recent years, the government tried to undermine religious freedom. But the attacks on communities of faith are over. We’ve ended it. We’ve ended it. (Applause.) Unlike some before us, we are protecting your religious liberty.

In the last 18 months alone, we have stopped the Johnson Amendment from interfering with your First Amendment rights. (Applause.) A big deal. Its a big deal.

We’ve taken action to defend the religious conscience of doctors, nurses, teachers, students, preachers, faith groups, and religious employers.

We sent the entire executive branch guidance on protecting religious liberty. Big deal. Brought the Faith and Opportunity Initiative to the White House.

Reinstated the Mexico City Policy we first put into place. And if you know, if you study it – and most of you know about this – first under President Ronald Reagan, not since then – the Mexico City Policy. (Applause.)

We proposed regulations to prevent Title 10 taxpayer funding from subsidizing abortion. I was the first President to stand in the Rose Garden to address the March for Life. First one. (Applause.)

My administration has strongly spoken out against religious persecution around the world, including the persecution of Christians. All over the world, whats going on. (Applause.) And for that, we’ve become not only a strong voice but a very, very powerful force. Were stopping a lot of bad things from happening.

We brought home hostages from North Korea, including an American pastor. And were fighting to release Pastor Brunson from Turkey. (Applause.) And we’ve made (inaudible).

We’ve recognized the capital of Israel and opened the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. (Applause.)

Were restoring opportunity for all Americans. African American, Hispanic American, Asian American unemployment have all recently achieved their lowest rates ever recorded in the history of our country. (Applause.) And women’s unemployment recently achieved its lowest rate in 65 years. (Applause.)

Very important to me, youth unemployment has reached its lowest rate in nearly 50 years. And unemployment for Americans without a high school diploma – think of that — has reached its lowest rate ever. (Applause.)

Were advancing prison reform to give former inmates a second chance. And these incredible unemployment numbers are probably the greatest thing that ever happened to people getting out and wanting a second, and sometimes a third, chance. But they’d come out of prison, and they were not hired, and bad things would happen, and they’d go back. Now they’re coming out of prison, they’re getting jobs. Were working with them. And they are very, very thankful.

Ill tell you who else is thankful: the employers. I have a friend who hired numerous people coming out of prison — something he never thought he’d do — and in a way, he was forced to do it, frankly. He was forced to do it by the fact that he couldn’t get people; he needed people. The numbers are so low in that community. He is so happy. Hes hired some people that he said he hopes he never loses them. They’re happy, and he is thrilled. So that’s a great story. A great story. (Applause.)

Every day, were standing for religious believers, because we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are the center of American life. (Applause.) And we know that freedom is a gift from our Creator.

Here in the State Dining Room, carved into this fireplace, is the famous prayer of John Adams. It says, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House. And that’s really what it is. This is an incredible house. Means so much. It means so much to our country. It means so much to the world. And it means, really, so much to religion and to Christians. So its an honor to have you.

Together, we will uplift our nation in prayer, defend the sanctity of life, and forever proudly remain one nation under God. (Applause.)

So thank you again to all of my friends and faith leaders for being here tonight. You are really special people. The support you’ve given me has been incredible. But I really don’t feel guilty because I have given you a lot back, just about everything I promised. (Applause.) And as one of our great pastors just said, Actually, you’ve given us much more, sir, than you promised. And I think that’s true, in many respects. (Applause.)

And now I would like to ask a tremendous friend of all of ours, Pastor Paula White, to come up and bless our meal. Paula, please. (Applause.)

PASTOR WHITE: Its an honor to be here. And before we pray the prayer, this group would like to present to you and First Lady a Bible that is signed by over a hundred Christians, Evangelicals that love you, pray for you. And Id just love to read the inscription for you and First Lady. Its very important for – I have to put on my glasses, so — sorry.

It says: First Lady and President, you are in our prayers always. Thank you for your courageous and bold stand for religious liberty, and for your timeless service to all Americans. We appreciate the price that you have paid to walk in the high calling. History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations.

We pray this prayer. And if all of you agree with that, say Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

(A prayer is given.)

END 7:05 P.M. EDT

By choosing politics over fundamental trade economics Justin and Chrystia from Canada have painted themselves into an isolated position on the renegotiated North American Trade deal.  Here’s the basic Canadian conundrum.

The U.S. and Mexico have agreed to manufacturing origination terms; wage and labor improvements; elimination of AG subsidies and non tariff barriers; and removal of all protectionist tariffs – so long as the structural terms of commerce are upheld.

In order for Canada to join the U.S. Mexico deal they would need to:

• (1) eliminate soft-wood subsidies in the lumber sector;
• (2) eliminate protectionist tariffs in the AG (Dairy) sector;
• (3) accept the 75% rules of origin, eliminating the NAFTA loophole;
• (4) agree to the enforcement mechanisms for all the above;
• (5) allow U.S. banks to operate in Canada (financial sector).

Each of these five issues, now locked-in and agreed by the U.S. and Mexico are “take-it-or-leave-it” terms for Canada to join. There’s almost no-way, given the politicization of the Canadian plan, for Justin and Chrystia to agree to those terms and keep their fragmented political support base appeased.

Therefore, absent total acquiescence, it is likely Canada will keep their soft-wood lumber subsidies, keep their protectionist Dairy tariffs, keep their banking rules blocking U.S. access, and face a 25% duty on U.S. auto imports – effectively destroying their auto manufacturing sector.  Car companies (ex. Toyota) will simply leave Canada and return to building/assembling in the U.S.

Here’s the content from a conference call filling in more details:

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. We are here today to do a call on the U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement. I am joined by United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Lighthizer; Deputy Trade Representative, Ambassador Mahoney; and Assistant to the President, Jared Kushner.

We will be having opening remarks that will be on the record, attributable to the individual speaker. They will state their name prior to speaking. Question-and-answer will be attributable to a senior White House official/senior administration official.

Again, the opening remarks will be on the record, attributable to the individual speaker, and question-and-answer will be attributable to a senior administration official.

With that, I’m going to turn the call over to Ambassador Lighthizer.

AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER: Yeah. Hi, everyone. This is Bob Lighthizer. I’ll just make a few remarks and then I think Jared will, and then we’ll take questions.

I would say I think this is an extremely historic time. I think that we had a NAFTA agreement that had gotten seriously out of whack, that had led to large trade deficits, and that needed updating; it needed modernizing consistent with the way the economy works now.

I think we had an enormous amount of hurdles to overcome to renegotiate an agreement that had about $1.1 [trillion] or $1.2 trillion worth of total trade, by far the biggest agreement of its kind in the world.

We had a number of — I’m just trying to give you a little context. We had a number of rounds — seven rounds — over a period of almost exactly one year. Some of these rounds had as many as a 1,000 people in it because you’re negotiating — from the three countries — because you’re negotiating so many complicated provisions.

We’ve now come out the other side of that process with Mexico. We hope that Canada can join in now, and expect them to begin that process very soon.

With respect to the United States and Mexico, we have an agreement that is absolutely terrific. I think it is fair to say we’ll do a rebalancing. I think it’s going to lead to more jobs for American workers and farmers, but also more jobs for workers and farmers from Mexico.

I think it’s going to modernize the way we do automobile trade, and I think it’s going to set the rules for the future at the highest standards in any agreement yet negotiated by any two nations for things like intellectual property, and digital trade, and financial services trade, and all of the things that we think of as the modernizing, cutting-edge places that our economy is going.

So this is great for business. It’s great for labor. It has terrific labor provisions in it. Stronger and more enforceable labor provisions that have ever been in an agreement by a mile. Not even close. And these modernizing provisions are also the greatest that anyone has ever had.

So we’re very, very excited about it. We’re very, very happy to be partnering with Mexico on this difficult process of negotiations. And we look forward to having this — either be joined by Canada or not — but go through to a very successful conclusion of the Congress, hopefully with overwhelming Republican and Democratic support, and have it lead to real, tangible benefits for our workers and our farmers.

Now, with that, I’ll let — I think Jared wants to make a comment, and then we’ll take questions.

MR. KUSHNER: Thank you, Ambassador. And I also want to point out that this was a deal that was done, really, in almost record time. We did it very quickly for one of these trade deals. And a big part of why we were able to do that is because of the great cooperation we had with the Mexican government. We had a very constructive relationship. It was very focused on the future. We were not — we were willing to address the problems that each side had. And it was by having a very constructive and frank dialogue over the course of many months that we were able to reach a very quick agreement by the standards of these trade agreements. So I do give a lot of credit to the Mexican negotiating team, obviously to Ambassador Lighthizer and his team, and also to President Pena Nieto and President-elect Lopez Obrador.

We believe, very strongly, that Mexico is our neighbor. Our countries share a lot in common. And solving the problems that we had in our trading relationship will hopefully be a springboard off of which we can address a lot of other issues that we share together. But the spirit of cooperation and trust that’s been built between our countries, as we’ve worked very closely over the past year and a half together, hopefully will just continue to get better and lead to an even better, more prosperous, and safer relationship between the two countries.

So we came in with a joint objective. The same objective we both had was for us to make America better off and to make Mexico better off. And I think what we were able to accomplish with this deal is really to create a win-win transaction. And there, hopefully, will be a lot more to come.

I’ll just say, finally, that the President — obviously, he’s fighting for America. He’s fighting for our workers. He’s fighting for our companies. And he will be tough, but at the end of the day, he’ll be fair. And we presented a deal, ultimately with his leadership, that he thought was fair deal that would make our country better. And so he was — so he was happy to do it.

And with that, I’ll pass it maybe to Ambassador Mahoney, or we could open up for questions.

AMBASSADOR MAHONEY: You guys have said it all. Let’s start with questions.

♦Q Hey, good afternoon. How do you expect Canada is going to respond to the news of this deal? And how much of this big announcement today was designed to put pressure on Trudeau? There seems to be a real suggestion here that the train is leaving the station; you’re either on it, or you’re going to get left behind.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don’t — you know, this wasn’t designed to put pressure on anyone or anything like that. We’re in a position where we had a negotiation that went on for close to a year. The last few months — several weeks, I guess I’d say, more accurately — we decided we were better off to try to get a deal with one party and then hopefully the other.

It tends to be the way these things work in any event, right? It’s hard to have three people all just have the lightbulb go on at the same time. So this is not part of the negotiating strategy or anything. We did it in what I think to be the sensible way. We worked with one party. We got through. We worked it out. And now we’re bringing the other party in. The other thing — or the other party is coming in for the talks.

The other thing I would say is, let’s remember that we had seven rounds, as I said, and literally tens of thousands of hours of negotiating that were either bilateral between the United States and Canada, or trilateral.

So it isn’t like Canada is coming in at the last minute. They know the issues; we’ve talked about all these issues. And I think this is a normal, orderly way to arrive at an agreement with three people.

♦Q Thank you. Where do things stand on the U.S. demands for a sunset provision and changes to investor-state dispute resolutions?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So we have an alternative to sunset, which we think works. It accomplishes what we need to accomplish, and it also protects the interests of investors, may they be in Mexico or the United States.

So the way our agreement would work is we have a 16-year period — and we would have a review after 6 years, where we would hope to work out problems. And then, at the end of that review, we would expect that the agreement would be extended for another 16 years, and that you would think of it as more or less a rolling forward of the agreement timeframe, but with real opportunity for a review in a way that will keep both modernizing on track and keep disputes from festering. So that’s number one, the first question.

The second on the ISDS: We have a process wherein there will be an ISDS provision for everyone in both countries, who — which ISDS will be limited in the following ways, essentially –and that is, they’ll be for expropriation for a national — failure to give national treatment or failure to give MFN.

With respect to companies that have contracts with the government and either government: In certain sectors, they get the old-fashioned ISDS, and those sectors are oil and gas, infrastructure, energy generation, and telecommunications. So that’s the answer to that question.

♦Q Thanks so much for doing this call. I wanted to find out, are the number of TN visas changing in this new agreement? Is it a part of it?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No.

♦Q Great. Thanks very much. Can you just outline the specifics of how this agreement is different from NAFTA? The President obviously said it was better. Can you sort of specifically lay out how that is the case? And regarding Canada, will the tension between President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau affect the ability to get a deal?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I’m not going to comment on the latter. I don’t know that there is any tension. The reality is that leaders of nations tend to do what’s in the interest of their nation, and that’s what I expect to happen in most cases, or almost all cases.

So in terms of the way this is better than NAFTA 1.0, that’s a very, very, very long answer. It’s better in all respects. But having said that, I’ll just mention some of the high, high — you know, the top lines.

One, the rules of origin for automobiles — remember automobiles are hundreds of billions of dollars in trade — are much more detailed, and would be much better for the region and for the United States.

The labor requirements are totally different. They weren’t even in the agreement in the last one. And they’re completely enforceable.

In areas like digital trade, financial services, IP, all of the kinds of things you think of as a new economy, we are setting newest high-level standards that are not only better than NAFTA 1.0 but are also better than TPP or, I would suggest, any other agreement that’s been negotiated.

So to me, it’s innovative. I think this alternative method of review is innovative, that it will give both people the focus of a strong, viable agreement that goes on for years, and years, and years.

And with respect to every sector — environment — every sector, this is an improvement not only over NAFTA — the original NAFTA — or I should say, the agreement formally known as NAFTA, but also far better than TPP.

So there literally is not an area where we didn’t plus up what we had done before. And this with the cooperation of both; this is not just the United States. The Mexicans also wanted this result.

♦Q Thank you for doing this call. In the Oval Office, you said that you expected to notify Congress by Friday of the new deal, which would be signed by the end of November. What type of deal do you envision notifying Congress about? And what type of deal will Congress — or should Congress be prepared to sign at the end of November with many GOP leaders now weighing in and saying that any deal has to be a trilateral one?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, first, so the way this will work is, we send up a letter and then 90 days later it is signed by the heads of government. Right? So that’s basically the process.

And what we will do is, ideally, Canada will be in and we’ll be able to notify that. If Canada is not in, then we’ll notify that we have an agreement with Mexico and that we’re open to Canada joining it.

So it clearly is something that we believe is consistent with the statute. And in terms of — I don’t know, you know, and of the views of whoever the GOP leaders you’re talking about, but I think there are a lot of people who think we’re better off with all three countries involved. And I hope we will get to that result.

♦Q Hi, and thanks for doing the call. To follow up on that question, when you notify Congress of the renegotiation, that notification indicated that they’d be trilateral discussions. How can you notify — if Canada doesn’t join on — how could you notify a bilateral agreement if that initial notification was for a trilateral discussion?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I’ll just repeat it one more time. We’re going to — if it comes to that, ideally we’ll have the Canadians involved. If we don’t have the Canadians involved, then we will notify that we have a bilateral agreement that Canada is welcome to join. And we think that satisfies our requirements — the requirements of the statute.

♦Q Hi there. Can you tell us if you think that you’re confident that those labor provisions you’re speaking about will suffice for Democrats to support this deal?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So I guess I missed — the question is, do I think the labor provisions will —

♦Q Yes, sir. You were talking about those labor provisions. Do you think that that will be enough for the Democrats to support the deal?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thank you. Yes. I — it certainly is my hope. I can’t, obviously, speak for members; they make their own decisions. But I believe there has never been a trade agreement remotely as good on labor from the point of view of organized labor and Democrats, for whom that’s a high priority, than this one.

So it is in detail. It lays out the obligations, which are all obligations which the United States has and which Mexico is having. Mexico is in the process of reforming their labor laws.

And it is — they are across the board; they require secret ballots — all the kinds of things that we would expect. And they are enforceable. They’re enforceable. Mexico can enforce these obligations against us and we can enforce the baseline obligations against them.

So I do believe when this is studied and looked at by the people, be they Republicans or Democrats, for whom this is a major issue, they’re going to say this is the most forward-leaning labor provisions ever agreed to, and they can be completely enforceable. So I’m optimistic that we’re going to get a lot of bipartisan support.

♦Q Yes, sir. Thanks for holding this call. President Trump talked about terminating NAFTA. Just to clarify, he meant that in the context of getting a separate — getting, in addition to the deal announced today, a separate bilateral deal with Canada, since two bilateral deals would therefore represent — make NAFTA moot. Is that the case? And what hopes do you have that Canada is available or willing to do a separate bilateral deal?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you. First of all, I should add that, on the labor provisions, these were endorsed by the President-elect, who’s very forward-leaning — of Mexico, very forward-leaning on labor issues also. Because they were part of the negotiations and were engaged on some provisions, but particularly this provision.

What was the other question?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It’s on whether —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh, yeah, the issue of termination. So, I’m sorry — the issue of termination. It’s impossible to have two agreements at the same time. Whenever you have an agreement that supplants another agreement, you have to pause or get rid of the prior agreement. How you do that is something that we’re still in the process of looking at. At a minimum, the new agreement will supplant the old agreement. Right? Just as a technical matter.

We did that when we went to NAFTA from the 1988 Canadian deal. So I think we have to — every strategy, every tactic is not laid out at this point, but notionally, what the President is saying is you can’t have two agreements like this. And when you get a new agreement, you’re not going to have NAFTA anymore.

♦Q Hi. Yes, you mentioned oil and the ISDS. Can you explain exactly what the changes are regarding the oil industry and how — oil investments — and how that will be handled at the request of the new government? And also just going back, just for clarification, on the sort of sunset replacement, you said it’s extended for 16 years but revised or reviewed every 6 years? Did I understand you correctly?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Let me answer the first question first, which is, regarding oil and gas investments in Mexico, given the way that the Mexican energy sector is set up, those companies — or American companies operating down there — have contracts with the Mexican government. For those companies, there’s no change in ISDS. They continue to have the full suite of ISDS protections that they enjoy under NAFTA 1.0.

And with regard to the review and term extension provision, the way it works is that there’s a 6 — there’s a period of a 16-year term on the deal, but every 6 years you have a review. At each 6-year review, the parties can decide to extend the term another 16 years.

♦Q For a fresh 16 years.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: For a fresh 16 years. Right.

So you would go — you know, the first instance, if you get to your 6, and the parties decided that they wanted to push it out another 16 years, you’d then be — you’d be 16 years from your 6. So you’d be at — I guess at year 22.

So we — but if the parties decide at year 6 that they do not wish to bump it out another 16 years, then what they will do is they will meet and have a review every year in the hopes that they can solve whatever issues have arisen between them, and agree upon another 16-year extension.

So the idea here is that these reviews have consequences. They’re incentives for the parties to deal with any issues, to continue to modernize the agreement. But at the same time, you’re always far enough away from the end to where it, ideally, will not affect investment.

♦Q Hi there. Thanks for doing this call. If Canada were to enter back into the agreement, what would it be called if not NAFTA?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We’ll figure something out, but right now we have a United States-Mexico Trade Agreement that we’re working on. We’ll work with Canada when they — I guess we’re going to start this afternoon with them. And we’re focused more on the substantive issues, and hopefully we’ll get those resolved, and then we’ll pick what the name should be.

Thank you.

♦Q Yes, thank you for doing this call. I just wanted to make sure, specifically: Has Mexico agreed to a bilateral deal if Canada can’t be brought onboard?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think we’re at a position where we’re going to have discussions with Mexico over the — sorry, we’ll have discussions with Canada this week; see where we get to. But I think, at the end of the day, Mexico is in a position where they want to protect their markets, and they’ll hopefully do what’s right for Mexico.

Mexico does have an agreement with Canada through TPP, so it wouldn’t hurt their trading relationship. But again, I think we all have a preference to see it come together. But if we’re not able to do that, then we’ll move on bilaterally.

But for more clarity, maybe ask the Mexicans. So that’s just my speculation.

END

I am reminded how badly Chrystia Freeland screwed up the negotiations in January of 2018 when she demanded that Canada be allowed to arbitrarily set their own trade import standards with China…  This was right after idiot Justin signed Canada on to the TPP trade agreement.

Any canucklehead could see that signing on to TPP and simultaneously demanding to set your own standards for manufacturing origination was a poison pill.  It would make the NAFTA fatal flaw infinitely worse for the U.S….. any idiot could see that problem.  That was the moment when Lighthizer gave up on Canada.

FLASHBACK to the End of Round Six:

 Ambassador Lighthizer: It is a pleasure to be here in Quebec. Montreal is one of the great cities of the world, and I have not been back in many years, and I’ve missed it. I used to come here in the 70s and 80s with my wife and children to go to Mont-Tremblant and learn how to ski. We loved the French culture, we loved the excellent food, the wonderful skiing and as I recall, it was cold all the time. That hasn’t changed at least.

[…] Now let me turn to the Sixth Negotiating Round and the status of our talks. We believe that some progress was made. We closed one chapter, as Ildefonso [Guajardo] said it was the chapter on corruption, which is a very important chapter, and we made some progress on a few others. More importantly though, we finally began to discuss some of the core issues. So this round was a step forward, but we are progressing very slowly.

We owe it to our citizens, who are operating in a state of uncertainty, to move much faster. Of course, negotiating as a group of three is more difficult than bilateral talks. Often, issues become more complicated and contentious when there are three parties.

I would like to comment on two proposals by the Canadians, one of which has been in the press quite a bit, and that is a presumed compromise on rules of origin.

We find that the automobile rules of origin idea that was presented, when analyzed, may actually lead to less regional content than we have now and fewer jobs in the United States, Canada, and likely Mexico. So this is the opposite of what we are trying to do.

In another proposal, Canada reserved the right to treat the United States and Mexico even worse than other countries if they enter into future agreements. Those other countries may, in fact, even include China, if there is an agreement between China and [Canada]. This proposal, I think if the United States had made it, would be dubbed a “poison pill.” We did not make it, though. Obviously, this is unacceptable to us, and my guess is it is to the Mexican side also.

Finally, I would like to refer, because I think it fits into this context to an unprecedented trade action that Canada brought against the United States very recently. It constitutes a massive attack on all of our trade laws. If it were successful, it would lead to more Chinese imports into the United States and likely fewer Canadian goods being sold in our market.

Now we understand that countries often challenge specific actions taken by another country in the context of trade laws. This is normal and what we expect. But this litigation essentially claims that 24 years ago, the United States effectively gave away its entire trade regime in the Uruguay Round. Of course, we view this case as frivolous, but it does make one wonder if all parties are truly committed to mutually beneficial trade. It also underscores why so many of us are concerned about binding dispute arbitration. What sovereign nation would trust to arbitrators or the flip of a coin their entire defense against unfair trade?  (more)

Right friggin’ there, January 30th 2018, is when Canada lost.

I’m a hobbyist for granular details in U.S. trade history.  That moment can be marked as the exact day when the Canadian government made a fatal flaw in their negotiating strategy.  That day in January created the place where they are today in August.  Isolated

The corporate-owned, Wall Street-controlled, U.S. media are twisting, contorting, and in many cases hiding the consequential details of the U.S-Mexico trade agreement.

The reason for MSM disinformation campaign is quite simple: the deal helps the U.S. middle-class; helps both U.S. and Mexican workers; begins deconstructing the tentacles of Wall Street economic policy; and highlights a major success story for President Trump and the country in general.  The UniParty, Wall Street and the agenda of their purchased political class are being dismantled…. All of those interests are furious.

While it is still available, watch the 10 minutes of this report (and interview with U.S.T.R. Lighthizer) from 07:00 to 17:00 to get a generally good idea of how significant a day this is.  (prompted, just hit play)

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro also appears on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs to discuss the deal.

Earlier today President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Kenyan President Kenyatta and his wife to the White House.  Two videos and transcripts.

♦Oval Office Meeting:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 1:53 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s great to have President Kenyatta of Kenya, and First Lady Kenyatta. Thank you very much for being here. It’s a great honor.

We have a tremendous relationship with Kenya. We have terrorism, a lot of trade, getting bigger and bigger all the time.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Absolutely.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re working on a major infrastructure project, a massive roadway that will be record setting, in many ways. And we are going to conclude a lot of good things.

We have the President’s representatives in the next room. And we’re going to be going in there, and we’re going to be making some great deals for both countries.

So thank you very much, both, for being here. This is a tremendous honor. Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Great pleasure. Wonderful to have us. Thank you. We appreciate it.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Yep.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Would you like to say something?

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Yes. I want to just take this opportunity to thank Mr. President and the First Lady for welcoming us here to the White House.

As President Trump has said, Kenya and United States have had strong, solid relationships ever since our independence. We are here to renew that partnership. We are here to strengthen it. We have had very good and excellent cooperation, especially in our fight against terrorism because of the neighborhood that we’re in — al-Shabaab fights, which the United States have been a very good, strong, and solid partner.

But more importantly, we’re here to pursue and to strengthen our trade and investment ties, which are already very strong. We have a good number of American companies in Kenya. And we want to see how we can strengthen that going forward for the mutual benefit of our two countries.

And I believe that we will have very fruitful discussions this afternoon. And we’ll have a lot to report at the end of it.

Well, thank you once again, Mr. President —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: — for welcoming us to the White House.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Great honor.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Happy to be with you.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Thanks, Melania.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

END 1:55 P.M. EDT

♦During the Bilateral Meeting:

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[Transcript] – Cabinet Room – 2:13 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We are with President Kenyatta of a wonderful country that we do a lot of business with, Kenya. One of the most beautiful countries, from what I understand, Mr. President.

We have lots of pictures and lots of people that tell me how beautiful your country is. And we do a lot of tourism. We do a lot of trade. And we do a lot of defense and security. And we’re working very much on security right now. And I appreciate you very much being with us and your staff. This is really great. Your representatives have been dealing with our representatives and making a lot of progress. We’re talking about a very major highway/roadway. And that seems to be going along well. That’s a very important project, I think, for your country.

And so we appreciate, very much, you being at the White House and being with us. And we look forward to the discussion.

Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Thank you very much. And thank you for your warm welcome. As you said, we’ve had strong relations that stretch back — all the way back to our own independence. And we are here to cement that partnership. We are here to strengthen the support we have received as a country, especially with regards to our security and defense cooperation has been immense.

I had a good opportunity to speak with Mike, both in his former capacity and his current capacity. (Laughter.) And we work very well together, and I want to take this opportunity to appreciate that.

But more importantly, even as we work on these aspects, what’s most important and what makes our country survive is the trade and investment partnership. I mean, this is really what we should work to deepen much more as we go forward.

So I’m really looking forward to this discussion, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we take our relationship now to the next level —

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: — for the mutual benefit of our two peoples.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, you are here on a very special day because the stock market is up almost 300 points today. We just signed a trade agreement with Mexico, and it’s a terrific agreement for everybody. It’s been in the works for a long time. It’s an agreement that a lot of people said couldn’t be done, and we did something, and it was very special. Great for our farmers, our workers.

And our stock market just broke 26,000 for the first time ever in the history. So today we have the highest stock price we’ve ever had. And we’re very happy about that. I said that was going to happen and it’s happened. Everything I said is going to happen, it ends up happening.

So you picked a good day to come. (Laughter.) We’re in a very good mood.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA: Well, let’s hope you’re going to transfer some of that into Kenya. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll bring that over to Kenya. (Laughter.) Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

END – 2:16 P.M. EDT

So much good news: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The trade deal between the United States and Mexico will stand even if Canada does not come to an agreement with the Trump administration in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“If for any reason the government of Canada and the United States do not reach an agreement, we already know that there will still be a deal between Mexico and the United States.”

~ Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (link)

Remember those “private meetings” between Jesus Seade and Robert Lighthizer?

It is said: a picture is worth a thousand words.  Cue the audio visual:

The incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador,(AMLO)’s representative is Jesus Seade. The outgoing Mexican President Pena Nieto’s representative is Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo.

Why the joy in Seade and the defeated Guajardo?  The answer is in the details:

One of President Trump’s principal objectives in the renegotiation is to ensure the agreement benefits American workers.  The United States and Mexico have agreed to a Labor chapter that brings labor obligations into the core of the agreement, makes them fully enforceable, and represents the strongest provisions of any trade agreement.

Key Achievement: Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining

The Labor chapter includes an Annex on Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining in Mexico, under which Mexico commits to specific legislative actions to provide for the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

BOOM !!

Key Achievement: Labor Rights Recognized by the International Labor Organization

The Labor chapter requires the Parties to adopt and maintain in law and practice labor rights as recognized by the International Labor Organization, to effectively enforce their labor laws, and not to waive or derogate from their labor laws.

Additionally, the chapter includes new provisions to take measures to prohibit the importation of goods produced by forced labor, to address violence against workers exercising their labor rights, and to ensure that migrant workers are protected under labor laws.

Key Achievement: New Labor Value Content Rule

To support North American jobs, the deal requires new trade rules of origin to drive higher wages by requiring that 40-45 percent of auto content be made by workers earning at least $16 USD per hour.

Why is this important?

Massive consequences.

♦First, this is the part where AMLO gets a key win for his new Mexican economic agenda; the right of workers to form collective bargaining agreements, ie. unions.  Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrado is not only coming into office with a mandate, he is also bringing with him a majority parliament on his agenda.

By putting the rights of Mexican workers in the forefront two win/win objectives are accomplished for both AMLO and Trump.  (1) The reason U.S. corporations moved to Mexico was party to exploit cheaper labor.  Now that those corporations have invested themselves in Mexico they will have to agree to collective bargaining; thereby raising the standard of living for Mexican workers (an AMLO goal).  (2) For future investment considerations the low-wage incentive of U.S. manufacturing is now eliminated (a Trump goal).

Multinational vulture corporations can no longer bribe local Mexican officials for low-wage regional labor.  The Mexican worker, with AMLO legislation, will have the ability to fight off exploitation.

Manufacturing corporations will need to raise wages (AMLO win), and corporations will be less likely to move out of the U.S. based on the wage analysis portion of the total cost equation (Trump win).  I have no doubt this was part of the ‘closed-door’ private discussions between Seade and Lighthizer. No doubt.

♦Secondly, how is the left-wing political opposition in Canada and the U.S. going to fight against this deal which includes protections for collective bargains and union representation?   Trump fractures the Democrats/Liberals by supporting a policy that they claim is at the heart of their support base.   Do you really think Senator Patrick Leahy, or Senator Bernie Sanders are going to go on record against organized labor?

How can Justin or Chrystia from Canada going to argue against higher Mexican wages?

The U.S./Mexico 75% auto rule of origin for manufacturing parts works in synergy with the demand that 45% of those manufacturing components must come from assembly and manufacturing wages of $16/hr or higher.   In essence AMLO and Trump are controlling the calculations within the Total Cost of Manufacturing.

Watch the Canadian Leftists try to reconcile today’s events while not yet absorbing how the projected Mexican wage increases are factored into the total agreement. (first six minutes):

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Here’s the Mexican trade team press conference.  Use the ‘closed caption’ for the English sub-titles:

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Within this agreement President-elect Lopez-Obrador  and President Trump have fractured Wall Street’s exploitative multinational Big Club.  No doubt, despite his hundreds of millions spent, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tom Donohue is finally seeing significant defeat on the horizon.

The first White House visit by AMLO is going to be epic!

In direct relationship to the checkbook policy that impacts middle-class Americans the U.S./Mexico trade deal is the biggest win so far in Trump’s presidency.   There are such massive ramifications it could take days for anyone to comprehend how the granular details have such massive downstream consequences. The deal is incredibly complex.

At the 30,000 ft level, the deal positions Mexico to retain their current multinational investments, and through a series of sector-by-sector standards on origination the deal simultaneously closes the fatal NAFTA loophole.  The agreement makes an economic manufacturing partnership between the U.S. and Mexico; and for assembly products third parties will have to produce parts and origination material within the U.S. and Mexico.

U.S.T.R. Lighthizer has put some details forward:

♦The NAFTA Loophole closure is explained in Summary Form HERE; with emphasis on the Auto-Sector.  The key is a 75% part origination level for auto-assembly; and a 40-45% level for parts with a minimum $16/hr wage rate.  The source-origination rate (75%) is even higher than all previously forecast negotiation results.

Example of downstream consequences/benefits:  German auto-maker BMW recently built a $2 billion assembly plant in Mexico (almost complete).  Most of their core parts were coming from the EU (steel/aluminum casting components) and/or Asia (electronics).  Now the assembly plant will have to source 75% of the auto-parts from the U.S. and Mexico, with 45% of those parts from facilities paying $16/hr.  Result: BMW will need to modify their supply chain and build auto parts in the U.S. and Mexico.

♦Agriculture is another important sector, explained in Summary Form HERE.  CTH needs to dig into the details on this sector.  Overall it appears Mexico has agreed to a common set of food manufacturing safety standards. Additionally the removal of any/all subsidies in agricultural trade between the U.S. and Mexico.  There’s more, a lot more, but it will require some analysis akin to separating grains of sand with a toothpick.

♦U.S.T.R. Lighthizer also provides a Summary Fact Sheet HERE with a broad high-level review of the agreement principles.

1. New “rules of origin” requirements to incentivize billions a year in vehicle and automobile parts production in the United States, supporting high-wage jobs.
2. The strongest, fully enforceable labor standards of any trade agreement.
3. New commitments to reduce trade-distorting policies for agricultural goods.
4. Improvements enabling food and agriculture to trade more fairly.
5. Strong and effective intellectual property protections.
6. The strongest disciplines on digital trade of any international agreement.
7. The most robust transparency obligations of any United States trade agreement.

NOTE: #7 is a critical point, with a great deal of emphasis, given the complexity of the rules of origin now constructed to close the NAFTA loophole.

White House Fact Sheet Available HERE.

CTH will have a lot more on the specific details, but we wanted to get the links to the fact sheets out quickly.   Because of the fundamentally flawed prior agreement, this new trade agreement has massive consequences far beyond what would normally be considered.

Not only is Asia, specifically China, impacted; but so too are the EU and other international trade partnerships.  The critical point is that the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to partner in our approach toward the rest of the world.  Outgoing globalist Mexican President Pena Nieto is not happy; incoming nationalist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador is ultimately the winner.

Through the efforts of Robert Lighthizer (U.S.) and Jesus Seade (AMLO) the Trump administration has now closed one of the access routes into coveted U.S. market, exploited by multinational corporations and countries (using NAFTA). The Mexico route is secure, agreements are made, and now attention turns toward Canada.

Think about the BMW example above, the downstream ramifications within this agreement are massive.  It is not coincidental that Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is in Germany coordinating the response.  Now that a deal with Mexico has been reached, Canada has lost all prior leverage.

Remember, the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to “no protectionist tariffs/subsidies” in the agricultural sector.  Canada protects its dairy sector with massive protectionist tariffs and subsidies.  It is doubtful Trudeau and Chrystia can retreat from their construct.

Therefore:

“I think with Canada, frankly, the easiest we can do is to tariff their cars coming in. It’s a tremendous amount of money and it’s a very simple negotiation. It could end in one day and we take in a lot of money the following day,” Trump said.

Canada responded:

Canada responded with a statement Friday night, saying: “Our focus is unchanged. We’ll keep standing up for Canadian interests as we work toward a modernized trilateral NAFTA agreement.” (link)

This will likely be the outcome.  Like it or not, Canada gets to continue protecting dairy sector and gives up its auto-manufacturing sector as a consequence.

Freeland is expected to arrive in the U.S. tomorrow….

Promises made, promises kept.  The CTH community is in a unique position to understand exactly what has taken place today as President Donald Trump announces the termination of NAFTA and simultaneously announces a bilateral trade agreement has been made between the U.S. and Mexico.  This is exactly what CTH predicted. Most, not all, but most of the media are absolutely clueless.

In an Oval Office announcement today President Trump put outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on his speaker phone as the press watched in the Oval Office. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo, and the key figure for incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), Jesus Seade was present for the announcement.

CTH will have much more on the details of the trade agreement.  This is the most comprehensive and complex trade agreement in U.S. history.  However, in the interim here’s the full video of the announcement (including nuance).  ENJOY:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 11:09 A.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hello everybody. It’s a big day for trade, a big day for our country. A lot of people thought we’d never get here because we all negotiate tough. We do, and so does Mexico. And this is a tremendous thing.

This has to do — they used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years. And now it’s a really good deal for both countries, and we look very much forward to it.

And I believe the President is on the phone. Enrique? You can hook him up. Tell me when.

How are you? It’s a big thing. A lot of people waiting. Hello? Do you want to put that on this phone, please? Hello? Be helpful.

♦PRESIDENT PEÑA NIETO: (As interpreted.) President Trump, how are you? Good morning.

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you, Enrique. And congratulations. That’s really a fantastic thing. We’ve all worked very hard, and your brilliant representatives are sitting right in front of me. And I thought we would congratulate each other before it got out. And I know we’ll have a formal news conference in the not-too-distant future.

♦PRESIDENT PEÑA NIETO: (As interpreted.) Thank you very much, President Trump. I think this is something very positive for the United States and Mexico. And the first reason for this call, Mr. President, is, first of all, to celebrate the understanding we have had between both negotiating peace on NAFTA, in the interest we have had for quite a few months now to renew it, to modernize it, to update it, and to generate a framework that will boost and potentiate productivity in North America.

It is our wish, Mr. President, that now Canada will also be able to be incorporated in all this. And I assume that they going to carry out negotiations of the sensitive bilateral issues between Mexico — rather, between Canada and the United States.

And I’m really grateful, Mr. President. I want to say that you — I greatly recognize and acknowledge your political will and your participation in this. And on this paved path, I want to bear my testimony, Mr. President, and my acknowledgement to both negotiating teams, especially the team that is headed and led by Mr. Robert Lighthizer, and also the accompaniment and the support we have had from the White House through Jared Kushner.

And I also extend this recognition to the Mexican team. They are listening to you. They are close to you right now — Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and the Secretary of the Economy, Mr. Guajardo.

Yes, in terms of (inaudible) the negotiations that have taken months, it’s been difficult, complex, and a very hard negotiation altogether with difficult moments, of course. But I truly acknowledge now the fact that we’ve been able to reach an agreement that we are about to make public. And this is the result of good understanding and good work. And I — of course, I am quite hopeful that now Canada would start discussing with the United States the sensitive bilateral issue.

Congratulations, President Trump. I am very grateful and I am attentive to your comments.

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, Mr. President, thank you very much. It’s an honor. You’ve been my friend. It’s been a long time since I traveled to Mexico, where we got to know each other quite well and we actually had a good meeting. Some people weren’t sure if it was a good meeting, but I was.

I have a lot of good meetings that a lot of people aren’t sure if they were good or not.

But it’s been a long time, and this is something that’s very special for our manufacturers and for our farmers from both countries, for all of the people that work for jobs. It’s also great trade and it makes it a much more fair bill. And we are very, very excited about it.

We have worked long and hard. Your representatives have been terrific. My representatives have been fantastic too. They’ve gotten along very well, and they’ve worked late into the night for months. It’s an extremely complex bill and it’s something that I think will be talked about for many years to come. It’s just good for both countries.

As far Canada is concerned, we haven’t started with Canada yet. We wanted to do Mexico and see if that was possible to do. And it wasn’t — I think, it wasn’t from any standpoint something that most people thought was even doable when we started.

If you look at it, you remember, at the beginning, many people thought that this was something that just couldn’t happen because of all of the different factions, all of the different sides, and the complexity. And we made it much simpler, much better. Much better for both countries.

Canada will start negotiations shortly. I’ll be calling the Prime Minister very soon. And we’ll start negotiation, and if they’d like to negotiate fairly, we’ll do that. You know, they have tariffs of almost 300 percent on some of our dairy products, and we can’t have that. We’re not going to stand for that.

I think with Canada, frankly, the easiest thing we can do is to tariff their cars coming in. It’s a tremendous amount of money and it’s a very simple negotiation. It could end in one day and we take in a lot of money the following day.

But I think we’ll give them a chance to probably have a separate deal. We can have a separate deal or we can put it into this deal. I like to call this deal the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement. I think it’s an elegant name. I think NAFTA has a lot of bad connotations for the United States because it was a rip-off. It was a deal that was a horrible deal for our country, and I think it’s got a lot of bad connotations to a lot of people. And so we will probably — you and I will agree to the name.

We will see whether or not we decide to put up Canada or just do a separate deal with Canada, if they want to make the deal. The simplest deal is more or less already made. It would be very easy to do and execute.

But I will — I will tell you that working with you has been a pleasure. Speaking with and working President-elect López Obrador has been absolutely a very, very special time.

You both came together for your country. You worked together. I think that’s important for the media to know. We have a little — a small amount of media in our presence, like everybody. And the media should know that the President and the President-elect worked very closely together because the President felt it was important that the President-elect liked what he was seeing.

And our teams worked together. Our teams were really well unified, and your team was very well unified. I was very impressed with the fact that the two Presidents came together and worked out something mutually agreeable.

So it’s an incredible deal. It’s an incredible deal for both parties. Most importantly, it’s an incredible deal for the workers and for the citizens of both countries. Our farmers are going to be so happy. You know, my farmers — the farmers have stuck with me; I said we were going to do this. And Mexico has promised to immediately start purchasing as much farm product as they can. They’re going to work on that very hard.

And as you know, we’re working — unrelated to this, we’re working very much with other countries. China is one; they want to talk. And it’s just not right time to talk right now, to be honest, with China. It’s been — it’s too one-sided for too many years, for too many decades. And so it’s not the right time to talk. But eventually, I’m sure, that we’ll be able to work out a deal with China. In the meantime, we’re doing very well with China.

Our economy is up. It’s never been this good before, and I think it’s only going to get better.

But, Mr. President, you’ve been my friend and you have been somebody that’s been very special in a lot of ways. We talk a lot. We talked a lot about this deal. And I’d like to congratulate you and the Mexican people.

♦PRESIDENT PEÑA NIETO: (As interpreted.) Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I finally recognize this, especially because of the point of understanding we are now reaching on this deal. And I really hope and I desire — I wish — that the part with Canada will be materializing in a very concrete fashion; that we can have an agreement the way we proposed it from the initiation of this renegotiating process, a tripartite.

But today I celebrate the (inaudible) between the United States and Mexico because we’re reaching a final point of understanding. And I hope that in the following days we can materialize (inaudible) in the formalization of the agreement.

Something additional, Mr. President — and you have already mentioned it — it has to do with an involved and committed participation of the administration and the President-elect of Mexico. As you know, we are now going through a period of transition, and it has been possible to create a highly unified front between the negotiating team of this administration and the people appointed by the President-elect of Mexico to be observers and participate in this agreement, in this understanding, to reach the point we are now reaching.

The President-elect has been aware of everything that has been happening, and I have also had the opportunity of talking to him directly and personally on the progress being made.

You have also had direct conversations with President-elect. Things that we have to do and I hope we have the space to do it would be to find — to toast a good toast with tequila, of course — (laughter) — to celebrate this understanding.

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: Enrique, I think that’s exactly right. And you know the good relationship that I’ve already established with the President-elect. I was very impressed with him, I must tell you. He was terrific in every way. And he wants — you know, he loves your country like you love your country. You want to do the right thing. And we’re really doing the right thing for all of us. So I really enjoy that. Please send him my regards, and I will speak to him very shortly.

But this was great that you were able to do it together. I think doing it mutually as opposed to just you doing it — or even just him doing it — I think a mutual agreement between your two administrations was a fantastic thing. I suggested that early on, and I think it was immediately embraced and I think it was a really fantastic thing that you were able to do it — and with great spirit. I mean, it was great coordination and spirit. So I think that is really just great.

And, you know, one of the things that I’m excited about is you’re going to be helping us at the border. You’re going to be working together with us on agriculture. You’re going to be working in many different ways, and we’re going to be working with you in many different ways. This is a very comprehensive agreement.

So, Enrique, I will see you soon. I think we’re going to have a very formal ceremony. This is one of the largest trade deals ever made. Maybe the largest trade deal ever made. And it’s really something very special that two countries were able to come together and get it done.

And I just want to thank all of my people — Bob and Jared. And, gentlemen, you have been really great, the way you’ve worked so long. And I know you’ve been going up until three o’clock, four o’clock in the morning, and then getting in at eight.

So I just want to — on behalf of the United States, I want to thank you very much. And I can say that Mexico is very proud of you. They’re very proud of you. Thank you all very much.

Enrique, I’ll see you soon. I’ll talk to you soon. And congratulations, and job well done.

♦PRESIDENT PEÑA NIETO: (As interpreted). Thank you, Mr. President, and congratulations as well to you, to the negotiating team, to the (inaudible) of both countries. We’ll be waiting for Canada to be integrated into this process.

I send you an affectionate hug. And all my greetings to you and my regards.

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: A hug from you would be very nice. (Laughter). Thank you. So long. Thanks. Goodbye, Enrique.

Okay, so we’ve made the deal with Canada. It’s a very —

Q With Canada?

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: They’re starting. We made the deal with Mexico. And I think it’s a very — deal. We’re starting negotiations with Canada, pretty much immediately. I can’t tell you where those negotiations are gone. It’s going to be a — it’s a smaller segment, as you know. Mexico is a very large trading partner. But we’ve now concluded our deal and it’s being finalized.

And, Bob, when would you say it will be signed — actually, formally, signed?

♦AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER: Well, it will likely be signed at the end of November because there’s a 90-day layover period because of our statute. But we expect to submit our letter to Congress, beginning that process on Friday.

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay, so that starts the process.

♦AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER: And then 90 days later, it will be signed.

♦PRESIDENT TRUMP: We have an agreement where — both with Canada and with Mexico — I will terminate the existing deal. When that happens, I can’t quite tell you; it depends on what the timetable is with Congress. But I’ll be terminating the existing deal and going into this deal. We’ll start negotiating with Canada relatively soon. They want to start — they want to negotiate very badly.

But one way or the other, we have a deal with Canada. It will either be a tariff on cars, or it will be a negotiated deal. And, frankly, a tariff on cars is a much easier way to go. But perhaps the other would be much better for Canada.

And we’re looking to help — you know, we’re looking to help our neighbors, too. If we can help our neighbors, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. So we’re going to start that negotiation imminently. I’ll be speaking with Prime Minister Trudeau in a little while.

So I want to thank everybody. I want to thank you. What a great job you’ve all done. And it’s been — it’s been a long one, but a lot of people thought this was not a doable transaction. It’s going to be great for our people. And again, I want to thank you folks. And we’ll see you at the signing, and we’ll see you many times before that, I’m sure.

So, congratulations to the people of Mexico. Great job.

Thank you very much everybody.

END