Global Automakers Urge Trump Administration Not to Terminate NAFTA

Major automakers urged the Trump administration not to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and hopes that the United States, Canada and Mexico will be able to conclude a modernized and improved trade pact.

Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA, which is heavily utilized by automakers that have production and supply chains spread across the three countries.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said he hoped the Trump administration would “retune” some of its trade talk demands.

Marchionne said FCA's truck production shift in part “goes a long way I think in addressing some of President Trump's concerns about the dislocation of production capacity out of the United States.”

That decision reduces the risk those trucks would be hit with a 25 percent tariff if NAFTA unravels.

Ford Motor Co CEO Jim Hackett said NAFTA needs “to be modernized,” adding that of Detroit's Big Three automakers, Ford has the highest percentage of U.S.-built vehicles.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra expressed optimism NAFTA will survive with improvements. Other senior GM executives stood by the company's plans to continue building trucks in Mexico.

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