Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he still believed that NAFTA was beneficial to all the countries involved. | Ng Han Guan/AP Photo Trudeau will 'walk away' if there is a bad NAFTA deal

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that he would do what was best for his country when it c omes to NAFTA renegotiation, even if it mean s walking away from it.

Trudeau's comments come a few days after President Donald Trump emphasized the need for fair trade deals during his State of the Union address Tuesday. Trump did not mention NAFTA by name, nor did he repeat his previous threats to withdraw. But tensions between the two large trading partners have remained high throughout Trump's first year in office.


“We aren’t going to take any old deal,” Trudeau said at a town hall in Nanaimo, British Columbia, according to a report from Bloomberg News . “Canada is willing to walk away from NAFTA if the United States proposes a bad deal. We won’t be pushed around.”

The sixth round of NAFTA discussion ended Monday and was said to be slowly progressing. But all three countries' top officials indicated that they were seeing progress emerging. There were highlights to the meeting, with food-safety chapters, digital trade and telecommunications nearly done.

Despite his forceful promise, Trudeau said he still believed that NAFTA is beneficial to all the countries involved.

Sign up for Morning Trade A speed read on global trade news — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“Canceling it would be extremely harmful and disruptive to people in the United States,” Trudeau said. "We are going to keep negotiating in good faith,” he added. “We are confident we are going to be able to get to the right deal for Canada, not just any deal.”

The seventh round of NAFTA talks will take place in Mexico City starting Feb. 26.