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Canadian and Mexican currencies pared losses against the dollar Tuesday following news that President Donald Trump was pushing for a preliminary North American Free Trade Agreement deal to be ready as soon as mid-April.
The Canadian dollar— also known as the loonie — gained 0.95% to 1.2792 per US dollar as of 11:55 a.m. ET. The Mexican peso also strengthened, advancing 0.25% to 18.1979 per US dollar.
Sources familiar with the talks said the White House wants to unveil an updated NAFTA agreement at an April 13 summit in Peru, Bloomberg reported on Monday, easing some anxiety about a potential US exit from the pact.
The loonie and peso traded lower versus the dollar on Monday as Trump linked NAFTA to immigration frustrations, centered around a group of about 1,200 migrants in search of asylum who are currently traveling toward the U.S. border.
“The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our “Weak Laws” Border, had better be stopped before it gets there,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!”
Tuesday marks the third straight day Trump has railed against the two-decade-old pact on Twitter, warning he’ll move to scrap the deal if Mexico doesn’t do more to to secure its border with the US. On Sunday, he threatened to “stop” the trillion-dollar pact if Mexico doesn’t stop “big drug and people flows” into the US. The attacks continued into Monday, with Trump saying Mexico is “making a fortune on NAFTA.”
This article was originally published on Business Insider. Copyright 2018.
