“It’s a big day for trade. It’s a big day for our country,” Trump said.

The US and Mexico have reached a breakthrough in efforts to revamp the Nafta trade agreement, potentially ending an acrimonious impasse in relations between the countries since Donald Trump took office.

The US president yesterday said that the overhauled trade deal, which was tentatively agreed between officials in Washington and Mexico City, would be renamed the United States-Mexico trade agreement because of Nafta’s negative connotations.

It was unclear whether Canada, Nafta’s third partner, which was expected to join talks last night to agree a full package, would sign up to the deal. Mr Trump said the US was prepared to do a deal exclusively with Mexico if Canada were not on board.

“It’s a big day for trade. It’s a big day for our country,” Trump said.