NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Deal, may now be relegated to the pages of history.

A new bilateral trade deal between the United States and Mexico, without Canada, was announced today.

“We’re going to start that deal imminently” the American President, Donald Trump said today, with the new name, a more “elegant” name he said, as the  “The United States Mexico Trade Agreement”

“I think with Canada frankly, the easiest thing we could do is tariff their cars”

Trump held a televised press conference while he conducted a congratulatory conversation on speakerphone with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

“I will terminate the existing deal” Trump said, describing the “NAFTA” title as having a “bad connotation”.

The outgoing Mexican president referred to the deal as an “understanding” and several times mentioned Canada as part of an eventual agreement.

“I think with Canada frankly, the easiest thing we could do is tariff their cars”, Trump said, a heavy-handed pressure tactic, but he remained open to the idea of a negotiated agreement.

“Canada will start negotiations shortly, I’ll be calling the Prime Minister soon” Trump said during the press conference.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, left, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas arrive for a meeting of German ambassadors in Berlin today. Freeland is on her way to Washington this evening to begin negotiations tomorrow. (Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa via AP)

Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, said she was “encouraged” by today’s announcement, and was leaving Germany this afternoon to be in Washington tomorrow to continue the negotiations.

In an interview with the CBC’s News Network, Colin Robertson, a former Canadian NAFTA negotiator, said today’s announcement “raises more questions than it answers”.

The recent bilateral negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico were understood to be concerning content rules for auto manufacturing, which is more of a challenge for the U.S. and Mexico due to the wage disparity.

“It’s an incredible deal, it’s an incredible deal for both countries” Trump said of today’s development, but as Colin Robertson noted, “Mr. Trump as we know often gets ahead of himself”.

“Nothing is done until everything is truly done” 

A 90-day consultation process would be initiated for this new deal, and as for “terminating” NAFTA, Colin Robertson said a six-month notice of rescinding the NAFTA would be necessary.

Meanwhile there is a lot of splitting hairs underway in the U.S. as legal analysts argue over whether the President has the authority to act in this way.

“If they’d like to negotiate fairly” Trump said about the Canadian negotiations, once again bringing up what he describes as almost 300 per cent tariffs on U.S. dairy products.

Canada’s supply management system for dairy is most vulnerable in these talks, but the negotiations as we know this evening, will continue.

Government procurement and investor state dispute settlement mechanisms are apparently still major challenges, but a middle ground appears to have been reached on the deal-breaker for Canada; the sunset clause.

Originally the U.S. was demanding the possibility of renegotiating every five years. What has been agreed upon now, is a “sunset review” in which the agreement will continue while periodic reviews takes place over a 16-year time frame.

However, as the Mexican Economy Minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, told reporters over the weekend, “Nothing is done until everything is truly done.”