US President Donald Trump: Don't know if it's necessary to renegotiate USMCA

United States (US) President Donald Trump hit the wires hard on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. President Trump noted that it may not be necessary to renegotiate the USMCA, the NAFTA renegotiation that Donald Trump himself oversaw during his first term.

In typical Trump fashion, the breadth and scope of the president's comments were much wider than US-Canada relations. They included comments about the US's ongoing spat with Houthi rebels that have ramped up attacks on civilian shipping targets in recent months.

Donald Trump also touched on China, noting that the Asian manufacturing and trade giant hasn't been playing ball on trade discussions so far, which flies in the face of comments from Donald Trump in recent weeks about active trade discussions that had been allegedly occurring with policymakers from China that the Trump administration refused to identify.

Key highlights

Houthis don't want to fight. Good news Houthis announced they do not want to fight. We will stop bombing of Houthis effective immediately.

Big announcement before Monday trip departure.

Really positive announcement Thursday, Friday or Monday before we leave.

I don't know if it's necessary to renegotiate USMCA anymore.

We will possibly start to renegotiate USMCA.

We will be friends with Canada.

I want friendship with Canada.

Trump on Canada as 51st state: It takes two to tango.

Won't discuss 51st state unless someone wants to discuss.

United States has abundance of energy.

We want to protect our automobile business.

Trump wants to meet with China.

China's doing no business right now.

China's economy suffering from a lack of US trade.

China wants to negotiate and we will meet at the right time.

By not trading with China, we're losing nothing.

Announcement over next few days not necessarily on trade.

Chinese ships are turning back in the Pacific Ocean.

We're not chaotic, we're flexible.

We don't have to sign deals.

In some cases, we'll sign some trade deals.