Trump administration announces plans to renegotiate NAFTA

WASHINGTON -- Making good on a campaign promise, the Trump administration formally told Congress on Thursday it intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer sent a letter to congressional leaders Thursday, starting 90 days of consultations with lawmakers over how to revamp the pact. Talks with Canada and Mexico can begin after that.

The two-page letter offered few details about what changes the administration would seek in the 23-year-old pact President Donald Trump has called "a disaster."

Lighthizer told reporters any new deal should do a better job of protecting U.S. factory workers and should be updated to reflect new technologies.

Last month, White House aides spread word Trump was ready to pull out of NAFTA. Within hours, the president reversed course and said he'd seek a better deal first.

"We are going to give renegotiation a good strong shot," Lighthizer said. He refused to say whether leaving NAFTA remained an option.

The trade agreement has been a lightning rod for criticism since it was being negotiated in the early 1990s.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, independent candidate Ross Perot famously predicted a "giant sucking sound" as NAFTA pulled U.S. factory jobs south of the border into Mexico. Campaigning last year, Trump vowed to renegotiate NAFTA and pull out of it if he couldn't get a better deal.

NAFTA took effect in 1994 and triggered a big increase in trade among the three countries.

Mexico and Canada signaled they welcomed the opportunity to modernize the agreement.