First step in NAFTA renegotiation could start within 2 weeks

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government hopes to take the first formal step in renegotiating NAFTA within the next couple of weeks, setting the stage for actual negotiations with Canada and Mexico later this year.

The Trump administration could officially advise Congress within two weeks of its intention to renegotiate the quarter-century-old agreement, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday.

That would begin a minimum 90-day consultation phase. The administration would then spend a few months collecting input on what positions it should bring to the negotiating table, gathering that advice from lawmakers and industry advisory committees before real negotiations start as early as summer.

It may well take longer than 90 days: American lawmakers have a daunting to-do list that includes more pressing priorities, such as health reform and the first major change to U.S. corporate taxes since the 1980s. U.S. law gives them a say on NAFTA, too. If the administration wants lawmakers to agree to a simple yes-or-no vote on a trade deal, it must consult with Congress throughout the process — before, during and after negotiations.

“There’s a very specific set of processes that is required to get through the . . . so-called fast track,” Ross said Friday during a news conference with Mexico’s Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal.

“The next stage will be — hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks — issuing the 90-day (consultation) letter. That’s what triggers the beginnings of the formal process itself. We don’t have a date certain for that. We’ve been in discussion with the (key committees) — (the) Senate finance committee and the House ways-and-means committee.”

There are already major battles on Capitol Hill — between the parties, and also within them.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau referred to one such feud when asked Friday about a proposal for a border tax — an idea being hotly debated between the two parties, inside the parties, and within the White House itself.

The Canadian government has warned it could retaliate if such a tariff-like border tax were introduced. Trudeau, speaking in Texas at an energy conference, referred Friday to unintended consequences. But he pointed out that it’s still far from a done deal. “I think we’re a long way from it being adopted. And as I’ve said, we still don’t know exactly what form it will take — whether it will be different for Canada, or for elsewhere. So I’m not going to get into it,” Trudeau said.

“(But) we think the border adjustment tax would be bad — not just for Canada, but for the United States as well.”