Trump's NAFTA Remarks Point to Few Changes for Canada, Plenty for Mexico

After several weeks spent wondering just how the continent’s trade landscape will look after president Donald Trump renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement, the business world now has a slightly clearer picture of where the pieces may land.

Trump spoke briefly about his trade goals with both Mexico and Canada after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House.

By all appearances, the agreement will change very little for the U.S.’s northern neighbor. During his first days in office, Trump said plainly that he hoped to renegotiate or completely rewrite agreements with other countries. However, there’s little doubt that Trump will push for far greater changes to goods moving across the Rio Grande.

“We’ll be tweaking it,” Trump told reporters when asked about the trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada. He didn’t go into details on what industries might be impacted the most. Trump did say that any trade disparity between the two countries is “a much less severe situation than what’s taken place on the southern border.”

The two men agreed to work together for the benefit of industry and jobs on both sides of the border, reaffirming the two countries’ shared economic interests.

The remarks should help diffuse anxiety felt by automakers and suppliers who feared the financial disruption of a possible northern border tax. While the proposed Mexican border tax wasn’t mentioned, Trump implied that a trade solution wouldn’t be imposed on the U.S.’s southern neighbor.

“We’re going to work with Mexico,” he said. “We’re going to make it a fair deal for both parties.”

What that agreement will look like, and how it will impact automakers, remains to be seen.