Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told CTV News Sunday night that the U.S. needs to get back to the NAFTA drawing board quickly to avoid a costly trade war.
“I think whether it comes to the tariffs or NAFTA, I would hope that we could find a solution as soon as possible,” he told CTV. “I don’t think it’s in our economy’s best interest, either.”
Although he supports a NAFTA he does believe the treaty needs “substantial reforms” for the decades ahead.
“By and large, it’s been a good agreement for our country, but there are a lot of people left out,” he adds.
Spicer, who is promoting his soon-to-be-released book, “The Briefing: Politics, The Press and The President,” addressed a number of issues in his interview. He remains miffed about being accused of lying after Spicer claimed President Donald Trump’s inauguration drawing “the largest audience ever.” Spicer says he provided what he thought was the most accurate information and it was difficult to verify the facts when he was “piecing together everything we can on the fly.”
Spicer says the mainstream media exhibited a typical “double standard” by suggesting Spicer’s estimation was a deliberate prevarication and not simply a mistake.
“When you guys make mistakes on your side or when you get new information, you call it an update,” he told CTV. “I was (called) a liar.”
Then there was the “Joe Trudeau” stumble that irritate Canadians so much. In February 2017, Spicer talked about Canadian Prime Minister Joe Trudeau, not Justin Trudeau, at a White House press briefing.
“I know that Justin Trudeau is the prime minister of Canada. But when you’re trying to remember every prime minister and president’s and deputy prime minister’s name who might be in the orbit, yeah, once in a while … you juxtapose a name or get a fact wrong,” Spicer told CTV.
The former press secretary also confirmed that Trump wrote the vast majority of his Tweets — especially after work hours.
“Back in the residence, usually in the evening or early in the morning, those are 100 per cent him,” he says, adding, “Donald Trump is his own best communicator.”