US, Canada again try to salvage 3-country NAFTA

Washington : Efforts to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement as a three-country pact resumed at the ministerial level Wednesday, after Canadian and US officials continued the lower level technical talks over the weekend. But the talks will be dogged by President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to leave Canada on the sidelines and proceed with Mexico, which reached a deal with Washington last week and could sign NAFTA 2.0 as soon as November 30.

Amid rising optimism last week that an agreement would soon be finalized on a rewrite of the 25-year-old trade deal, inflammatory comments from Trump angered officials in Ottawa and the discussions ended Friday with no agreement. Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Wednesday she is “looking forward to constructive conversations today” with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

“Our officials have continued to work hard and constructively over the weekend,” she said. Trump, meanwhile, continued his tough talk throughout the weekend, and was unlikely to be in a more cooperative mood after trade data showed the US deficit with Canada expanded, and deficits with China and the European Union hit new records. “There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out,” Trump tweeted. 

“Congress should not interfere with these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off.” The White House notified Congress on Friday of its “intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico -- and Canada, if it is willing -- 90 days from now.” The White House has until September 30 before it must present the full text of the new agreement to Congress, which gives Ottawa and Washington time to iron out remaining differences.