WASHINGTON—Facing demands from members of his own party to include Canada in any new North American trade deal, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Saturday to terminate the existing NAFTA if Congress tries to prevent him from proceeding with Mexico alone.

“There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off...” Trump said on Twitter.

The tweet was posted as Trump was riding in his motorcade to a Trump golf course in Virginia.

Trump struck a preliminary trade deal with Mexico on Monday. Negotiations with Canada, which are logjammed over several unresolved policy issues, will resume on Wednesday.

Seeking to pressure Canada into concessions, Trump has said that he will simply finalize a two-country deal with Mexico, replacing the three-country North American Free Trade Agreement, if Canada does not give ground.

But members of Congress, including Republicans, have insisted that any deal include Canada. And second-ranking Senate Republican John Cornyn, along with independent trade experts, has warned that Trump might not have the legal authority to send a Mexico-only deal through Congress after initially notifying Congress that he was renegotiating a three-country deal.

“My hope is that Canada comes on board rather quickly,” Cornyn said, according to the Washington Post. “I hope we can get this done, and I hope Canada’s on board. Because that would eliminate some of the technical, procedural problems . . . that might otherwise arise.”

A Trump official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity on Friday argued that the administration does have the authority to make a Mexico-only deal. But the official acknowledged that “at the end of the day, obviously it’s going to be up to the Congress” to make a judgment.

Trump issued the threat as his two predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, attended and spoke at a National Cathedral memorial service for the late Republican senator John McCain, who did not invite the sitting president.

Trump has threatened since his campaign to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA, which he called “one of the WORST Trade Deals ever made” in another Saturday tweet. This is the first time he has specifically threatened to initiate a withdrawal in response to Congress refusing to let him go forward without Canada.

Experts differ on whether Trump actually has the power to terminate NAFTA on his own. Such a move would be guaranteed to face legal challenges.

Canada and the U.S. negotiated from Tuesday to Thursday without reaching a deal by Trump’s informal deadline of Friday. Shortly afterward, Trump sent Congress a formal notification of his intention to enter into a trade agreement with Mexico — “and with Canada if it is willing, in a timely manner, to meet the high standards for free, fair and reciprocal trade contained therein.”

The notification starts a 90-day countdown to the possible signing of an agreement by the countries’ leaders. But the U.S. could also decide to extend negotiations with Canada well beyond that; there is no requirement that the U.S. and Mexico sign at the 90-day mark.

Influential U.S. business lobby groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, are also urging Trump to include Canada.

“Anything other than a trilateral agreement won’t win Congressional approval and would lose business support,” Chamber of Commerce chief executive Thomas Donohue said in a Friday statement.

Trump delivered his threat to Congress and to Canada a day after the Star revealed that he had said, in remarks he intended to be private, that he was not making any compromises at all with Canada and that any deal would be “totally on our terms.” He said he could not say this publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”

Trump complained in two tweets and in a speech about the disclosure of the quotes, which he had made “off the record” to Bloomberg News.

But he also insisted that he did not mind the leak because now Canada knowing his true feelings.

“These are very dishonourable people,” he said Friday of the Bloomberg journalists, though he provided no evidence they were behind the leak. “But I said, in the end it’s OK, because at least Canada knows how I feel. So, it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s true.”

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