The United States, Canada and Mexico on Wednesday started the first round of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a 23-year-old trade pact that U.S. President Donald Trump once called "the worst deal" and "a total disaster."
The world is watching if the five-day trade talks could put a positive spin on the future of NAFTA, and whether Trump will really tear it up, as he had more than once threatened to, if he fails to get what he wants, for instance, a solution to U.S. trade deficit with the other two countries.
Here are some of Trump's remarks on NAFTA while running for president and after taking office.
"NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country," Trump said during his first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton in New York on Sept. 26, 2016.
"Because NAFTA, signed by her (Hillary Clinton) husband, is perhaps the greatest disaster trade deal in the history of the world. Not in this country. It stripped us of manufacturing jobs. We lost our jobs. We lost our money. We lost our plants. It is a disaster," Trump said during his second presidential debate with Clinton in St. Louis on Oct. 9, 2017.
"I will renegotiate NAFTA. If I can't make a great deal, we're going to tear it up. We're going to get this economy running again," Trump tweeted on Oct. 19, 2016.
"A Trump administration will renegotiate NAFTA and if we don't get the deal we want, we will terminate NAFTA and get a much better deal for our workers and our companies. 100 percent," Trump said at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Nov. 7, 2016.
"The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers of jobs and companies lost," Trump said on Twitter on Jan. 26, 2017.
"NAFTA has been very, very bad for our country. It's been very, very bad for our companies and for our workers, and we're going to make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA for once and for all. Cannot continue like this, believe me," Trump said during a speech in Kenosha, Wisconsin on April 18, 2017.
"It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation. It is an honor to deal with both President Pena Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better," Trump said in a White House statement on April 26, 2017, following Trump's calls with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.
"I received calls from the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada asking to renegotiate NAFTA rather than terminate. I agreed...subject to the fact that if we do not reach a fair deal for all, we will then terminate NAFTA. Relationships are good-deal very possible!" Trump tweeted on April 27, 2017.
