WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to quickly embark on a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal he says has been a “catastrophe” for America.

Trump promised during his campaign to alter NAFTA, which includes Canada and Mexico.

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“I have very serious concerns about NAFTA. NAFTA’s been a catastrophe for our country,” he said Thursday in his first extended comment on the agreement since he took office. “It’s been a catastrophe for our workers and our jobs and our companies. They’re leaving our country. I want to change it. And maybe redo it.”

He suggested an “extra F” could be added to the deal, for the word “fair.”

“Free and fair trade. Not just free trade, free and fair trade. Because it’s very unfair,” he said.

He said he would like to “speed it up if possible.” He added, “I don’t care if it’s a renovation of NAFTA or a brand new NAFTA.”

Trump again did not specify what changes he is seeking to the agreement, which has governed North American trade since 1994. His frequent remarks on NAFTA have focused exclusively on Mexico and ignored Canada.

And he has sent mixed signals on his willingness to preserve an agreement involving three countries. He told Fox News last week that he wants to make only two-way bilateral agreements, something he also said on the campaign trail.

“When you get into the mosh pit, I call it — where you have all these countries together — you can’t get out of the deal,” he told Fox.

An economic adviser to Trump, Stephen Schwarzman, told Justin Trudeau’s governing Liberals in late January that Canada has “very special status” and should not be “enormously worried” about trade talks.

“There may be some modifications, but basically things should go well for Canada in terms of any discussions with the United States,” he said. “We have balanced trade between the U.S. and Canada, and that’s not the kind of situation where you should be worrying about the kind of issues you are.”

But Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, said Canada must protect against about becoming “collateral damage” of a U.S. attempt to change its trade relationship with Mexico.

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