<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><blockquote style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-bottom: 5pt;" class=""><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><strong class="">Trump: No decision on NAFTA pullout before Mexican election in July</strong><o:p class=""></o:p></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">POLITICO, By Doug Palmer <o:p class=""></o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">01/11/2018 05:36 PM EDT<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">President Donald Trump on Thursday indicated he would wait at least until after the Mexican presidential election July 1 before deciding whether to withdraw from NAFTA.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">He also expressed hope that a final deal on revamping the 24-year-old agreement could effectively make good on his promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"I understand that a lot of things are hard to negotiate prior to an election," Trump said in an interview with <a href="http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=00a8d5d4d1046f6251deb91fb6b333497fd03fa6614668f5759d2e72d64bcb051d9aa34f13827173f01587146d6aa117" target="_blank" style="color: purple;" class="">The Wall Street Journal</a>. "They have an election coming up fairly shortly. I understand that makes it a little bit difficult for them."<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trump repeated his threat to terminate the agreement unless the U.S., Mexico and Canada can agree on a fair deal, or a "Trump deal," as he called it, according to the Journal's report. But he said he would be "leaving it a little bit flexible" until after Mexico's presidential election.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The three countries are striving to reach an agreement on a revised pact by the end of March, but Mexico and Canada have balked at U.S. proposals on revamping the pact's auto trade rules and government procurement provisions. They also oppose the U.S. concept of including a "sunset review" mechanism that would automatically terminate the agreement after five years unless countries agree to extend it.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trump's comment that he will give Mexico time to get past its presidential election in July seems to suggest that the negotiation won't be concluded by the March deadline, and that talks could continue in some form as the Mexican presidential election shifts into high gear. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Mexican officials have repeatedly rejected any suggestion that they would pay for a wall along the border with the U.S. But in the interview with the Journal, Trump appeared to try to finesse that issue by saying the revamped agreement would be so good for the U.S. that Mexico would effectively be paying for the wall to be built. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"They can pay for it indirectly through NAFTA," Mr. Trump said. "We make a good deal on NAFTA, and, say, I'm going to take a small percentage of that money and it's going toward the wall. Guess what? Mexico's paying."<o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></blockquote></div></body></html>