Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says President Donald Trump was thinking about pulling out of the North American Free Trade Agreement before the duo spoke by phone on Wednesday evening.
But Trudeau is telling reporters in Saskatchewan he reminded Trump they both were elected on a similar platform of helping people find and keep jobs.
READ MORE: Donald Trump tells Justin Trudeau he won’t terminate NAFTA, renegotiation agreed upon
The prime minister says he pointed out that a lot of jobs and industries were developed under NAFTA – if the deal were cancelled, it would create too much disruption.
WATCH: Trump is backing down from threats to withdraw from NAFTA, after being pushed by Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the trade deal instead.
Trudeau says that the two agreed instead they could sit down and work on ways to make the deal better, a renegotiation process similar to what’s been done in the past.
Reworking the agreement had been one of Trump’s key campaign promises, but it’s up against a clock.
The U.S. Congress has yet to authorize negotiations and there might be less than a year to get a deal before the Mexican election.