trade pact Tariff tensions shadow signing

Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina

President Donald Trump signed a revised North American trade pact with the leaders of Canada and Mexico on Friday, declaring the deal a major victory for workers.

But tensions over tariffs, looming GM layoffs and questions about the pact’s prospects in Congress clouded the celebratory moment.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is meant to replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has long denigrated as a “disaster.”

The leaders signed the new deal on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires after two years of frequently blistering negotiations. Each country’s legislature still must approve.

“This has been a battle, and battles sometimes make great friendships, so it’s really terrific,” Trump said, before lining up next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to sign three copies of the deal – Trump using a black marker for his signature scrawl.

The signing came at the beginning of a packed two days of diplomacy for the American president that will conclude with high-stakes talks today with Chinese President Xi Jinping on ways to ease an escalating trade war between the two countries.

“There’s some good signs,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens.”