After speaking with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, President Trump "agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time," the White House announced Wednesday night.
The North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada was implemented in 1994, and while on the campaign trail, Trump called it a "job killer" and a "disaster." In a statement, the White House said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto "agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation" of the trade deal to "the benefit of all three countries."
Earlier in the day, a senior administration official told The New York Times the White House was finalizing the wording of an order to withdraw from the deal, with the draft reportedly written by Trump's chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and Peter Navarro, the head of the National Trade Council.