Story highlights The Trump administration this week imposed a tariff on lumber from Canada, a NAFTA partner, and has said it will withdraw from the trade agreement if a "fair deal" isn't reached during renegotiation.

Sean Spicer would appear on television and in print to argue that the US had to uphold its obligations under NAFTA or else US jobs would be negatively impacted.

(CNN) One of the most public faces of Donald Trump's administration once argued that the failure of the United States to uphold its obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement would hurt American workers.

The Trump administration this week imposed a tariff on lumber from Canada, a NAFTA partner, and has said it will withdraw from the trade agreement if a "fair deal" isn't reached during renegotiation.

In his current role as White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer has had to articulate Trump's position against NAFTA, saying at a press briefing in February, "The President has expressed his concern time and again with NAFTA, which he believes is an out-of-date agreement. The ultimate goal is to ensure the best and fairest treatment of U.S. workers and businesses, and the President believes that those interests are best secured by bilateral, rather than multilateral trade deals."

But prior to joining the administration, Sean Spicer would appear on television and in print to argue that the US had to uphold its obligations under NAFTA or else US jobs would be negatively impacted.

In early 2009, after leaving his job as assistant US trade representative in the Bush administration, Spicer spoke out forcefully against a move made under President Obama that ended the cross-border trucking program with Mexico. The program gave truckers from Mexico access to U.S. highways. When the program was ended in 2009, Mexico imposed a tariff on US goods in retaliation, arguing that the action was in violation of NAFTA.

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