President Donald Trump on Wednesday tempered his threat to pull the United States out of NAFTA after an eleventh-hour phone call with leaders from Canada and Mexico who informed him of the consequences of abandoning a trade deal worth more than $1 trillion.

The White House issued a statement late Wednesday night saying Trump “agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time” after a brief phone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump instead said he would renegotiate the trade deal.

So just how close did Trump come to pulling the U.S. out of the North America Free Trade Agreement? Here’s a brief timeline of events.

2016

In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on May 9, 2016, Trump derided NAFTA and blamed former President Bill Clinton for signing the agreement. The agreement was actually signed by his predecessor, George H.W. Bush in 1992 and went into effect in 1994 after Clinton signed the NAFTA bill Congress passed into law.


“These trade deals have sucked everything out of our country,” Trump told Cuomo. “NAFTA is the worst deal, one of the worst deals our country’s ever made from an economic standpoint. One of the worst deals ever.”

On numerous occasions during the presidential race in 2016, Trump described NAFTA as a “total disaster,” “one of the worst deals ever” and a “terrible” one for the U.S. and American workers. A number of times he said he would either “get rid of it” or “terminate it” or “renegotiate” it.

The New York Daily News has a comprehensive list of Trump’s remarks on NAFTA, but here are just two out of several tweets Trump sent during the campaign.

How can Crooked Hillary put her husband in charge of the economy when he was responsible for NAFTA, the worst economic deal in U.S. history? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2016


I will renegotiate NAFTA. If I can’t make a great deal, we’re going to tear it up. We’re going to get this economy running again. #Debate — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2016

January

In a series of tweets that ended in the cancellation of a meeting between Trump and the Mexican president in January, Trump called NAFTA a “one-sided deal” that benefits Mexico and not the U.S.

The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017

of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017


Monday and Tuesday

Because Trump has traditionally complained about NAFTA in terms of trade with Mexico, this week he surprised many when he shifted his attention to Canada.

On Monday, Politico reported that the Commerce Department announced it would issue tariffs on more than $5 billion worth of lumber imports from Canada. The next day, Trump complained about Canadian policies that have reportedly blocked American dairy exports at the northern border.

Canada has made business for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin and other border states very difficult. We will not stand for this. Watch! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2017

Wednesday

Trump’s head of his National Trade Council, Peter Navarro, and chief strategist Steve Bannon reportedly drafted an executive order on Wednesday that would have led to the U.S. pulling out of NAFTA, Politico reported.


News of the order spooked high-ranking Republicans who then urged the White House to hold off on such an order. Among those who discouraged Trump from signing the order was Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who on Wednesday tweeted, “Withdrawing from #NAFTA would be a disaster for #Arizona jobs & economy — @POTUS shouldn’t abandon this vital trade agreement.”

Withdrawing from #NAFTA would be a disaster for #Arizona jobs & economy - @POTUS shouldn't abandon this vital trade agreement — John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 26, 2017

Several other Republicans also echoed McCain’s concerns, including Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, who in a statement said “Scrapping NAFTA would be a disastrously bad idea.”

GOP pushback on the White House's reported NAFTA plan—Ben Sasse: "Scrapping NAFTA would be a disastrously bad idea." pic.twitter.com/eXkGciUtOB — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 26, 2017


Wednesday night

It all came to a screeching halt late Wednesday evening after Trudeau and Peña Nieto called Trump to talk him out of singing such an order. Canadian reporter Cormac Mac Sweeney on Thursday tweeted that Trudeau said the U.S. president was ready to pull out.

Trudeau says Trump was ready to pull out of NAFTA but Trudeau pointed out economic consequences & they agreed to sit down and renegotiate — Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) April 27, 2017

At 10:30 p.m. local time in Washington D.C., the White House issued a statement saying the U.S. agreed not to terminate NAFTA, as several journalists reported late in the day.

Here's the White House statement that says he will not terminate NAFTA "at this time." pic.twitter.com/LKlUQHZZjW — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 27, 2017


Thursday

On Thursday, Trump admitted that he would “terminate NAFTA as of two or three days from now” but was swayed by the calls from Trudeau and Peña Nieto who urged him to “please renegotiate.”

“I decided rather than terminating NAFTA, which would be a pretty big, you know, shock to the system, we will renegotiate,” Trump told reporters. “Now, if I’m unable to make a fair deal, if I’m unable to make a fair deal for the United States, meaning a fair deal for our workers and our companies, I will terminate NAFTA. But we’re going to give renegotiation a good, strong shot.”

Trump: I “was going to terminate NAFTA as of 2 or 3 days from now” but Trudeau/Peña Nieto asked “could you please renegotiate” & I like them pic.twitter.com/N447uS2IbV — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 27, 2017

NAFTA lives to see another day, but for how long remains to be seen. Will Trump manage to renegotiate NAFTA to benefit the U.S. as he has promised or is this the beginning of the end for the trade deal? Should the U.S. exit NAFTA anyway?


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