New US-Mexico-Canada deal most important trade pact ever: Trump

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump on Monday hailed the 11th-hour trade deal struck between the United States, Mexico and Canada to replace the quarter-century old NAFTA accord, calling it the biggest in US history.

Known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the deal agreed ahead of a midnight deadline Sunday will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump had denounced as a "disaster."

"The agreement will govern nearly 1.2 trillion (dollars) in trade, which makes it the biggest trade deal in the United States history," Trump told a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

Calling the new accord "truly historic news for our nation -- and indeed, for the world," the US leader said he hoped to sign it by the end of November, along with Canada's Justin Trudeau and the outgoing Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto, who leaves office on December 1.

Trump acknowledged that tensions had spiked with the Canadian premier over the fraught negotiations -- but insisted there was no bad blood between them.