President Donald Trump maintained on Thursday during an interview in Davos that the TPP as constructed was "horrible" for U.S. workers. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump: 'I would be open' to reentering TPP under 'substantially better' terms

President Donald Trump expressed willingness Thursday to re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership if it were renegotiated into a "substantially better deal" for the U.S.

“I would do TPP if we were able to make a substantially better deal,” the president told CNBC in an interview set to air in its entirety on Friday. “If we did a substantially better deal, I would be open to TPP."


One of the president's first acts in office last January was to sign an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the trade pact, which Trump frequently maligned on the 2016 campaign trail and once called "a rape of our country."

Trump maintained on Thursday during an interview in Davos, Switzerland, that the TPP as constructed was "horrible" for U.S. workers.

“I would do TPP if we made a much better deal than we had,” he added. “We had a horrible deal. The deal was a horrible deal."

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Trump's remarks come just days after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would join 10 other countries in signing a revised version of the TPP in March. The move dealt a severe blow to prospects of the U.S. renegotiating and re-entering the trade pact.

The president also offered an insight into his thinking on another major trade pact, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“NAFTA’s a horrible deal. We’re renegotiating it. NAFTA’s a terrible deal. I may terminate it, I may not," he said.

Trump also explained that he preferred bilateral trade deals over multinational ones "because if you have a problem, you terminate" the agreement.