The Latest on President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit (all times local):
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9:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal.
Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday’s meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Buenos Aires.
The revamped deal, which Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has long raged against NAFTA. He says the new agreement “changes the trade landscape forever.”
Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement.
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That could prove to be a difficult task in the United States, especially now that Democrats will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes.
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9:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump says a new trade pact being signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada is a “model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever.”
Trump spent more than a year pushing the leaders of Canada and Mexico into agreeing to a rewrite of North American trade rules. Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto are signing the new pact Friday at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trump now faces what could prove a more formidable foe: The U.S. Congress, which must ratify the agreement. He says the parties have “taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse” during the renegotiation.
He turned to Trudeau, saying “It’s been a battle,” but battles sometimes make “great friendships.”
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9:10 a.m.
The Mexican government has presented President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle. It’s the highest honor America’s southern neighbor gives to foreigners.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department says Kushner earned the honor for his work on renegotiating a new trade agreement being signed Friday by Mexico, the United States and Canada on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.
It replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
Kushner, who has been working on U.S.-Mexico issues, says relations have improved because the countries decided not to work across the table, but on the same side to craft “win-win” solutions to migration, drug trafficking and abuse, and other issues plaguing relations.
Kushner says there’s a “strong level of trust” between the U.S. and Mexico, despite news reports citing clashes between the neighbors.
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7:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump is meeting Argentine President Mauricio Macri as he kicks off two days of diplomacy at the G-20 meeting.
The leaders greeted each other warmly Friday as the annual meeting of leaders from rich and developing nations opened in Buenos Aires. Trump spoke about his longtime personal friendship with Macri and said they would discuss trade, military purchases and other issues.
Macri is hosting his counterparts as he struggles with a raft of domestic issues, including trying to halt economic turmoil that has caused the steep depreciation of the Argentine peso.
Trump and Macri enjoy a personal relationship dating back to their days as businessman.
Macri visited the White House soon after Trump took office in 2017.
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7:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump is blasting the investigation in which his former lawyer pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal he pursued for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Michael Cohen says he lied to be consistent with Trump’s “political messaging.” Trump says Cohen is lying now.
In a tweet Friday from Argentina, Trump recalled “happily living” his life as a developer before running for president after seeing the “Country going in the wrong direction.”
Trump says “Against all odds” he decided to run for president and continue to run his business, which he calls “very legal & very cool.” He says he “talked about it on the campaign trail.”
Trump tweets he “Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project. Witch Hunt!”
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3:25 a.m.
President Trump kicks off two days of diplomacy at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina on Friday after his abrupt decision to cancel a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin overshadowed the proceedings before they even started.
Trump barreled into the two-day meeting by announcing via Twitter that he was canceling on Putin over Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian vessels. His agenda Friday is expected to include meetings with world leaders, the signing of a revamped trade deal with Canada and Mexico, as well as a number of group activities for the gathering of rich and developing nations.
Coming into this G-20, Trump faces a series of diplomatic challenges — most notably whether he can strike an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) to ease trade tensions.
