Canadians see chance for NAFTA compromise
U.S. EYES SWIFT DEAL
OTTAWA • American trade officials are showing new-found interest in a Canadian proposal for revamping NAFTA’s automotive provisions as the U.S. seeks to swiftly conclude renegotiations of the continental free trade pact.
And that’s being taken in some quarters as a sign that the U.S. may realize it will have to settle for making only modest progress on a handful of American demands if there’s to be any hope of concluding a deal within the next few weeks.
At the conclusion of the last round of negotiations in Mexico earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said “time is running very short” to get a deal before “political headwinds” — Mexico’s presidential election in July, American midterms in November and provincial elections in Ontario and Quebec — start to complicate matters.
For the first time, Lighthizer made public his hope of completing a NAFTA deal — including the legally required six-month congressional consultation period and ratification vote — before a new Congress gets sworn in next January.
That would mean reaching a deal with Canada and Mexico during or very soon after the next round of talks, which have not yet been officially scheduled but are expected to start on April 8 in Washington and last at least 10 days.
Canadian government officials are privately skeptical that a deal can be concluded at such a breakneck pace, particularly since Mexico’s presidential campaign officially kicks off at the end of this month and no candidate can afford to be perceived as conceding anything to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is political kryptonite in that country.
They believe the only way it can happen is if the U.S. drops many of its controversial demands and accepts modest changes in just a few key areas — in particular on automobiles, which Canadian officials have believed from the outset would be the key to a successful renegotiation.
Lighthizer himself listed autos earlier this month as one of three priorities for the U.S.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, concurs with the Canadian assessment.
“I would agree with all of that,” he said in an interview.
And the fact that USTR officials finally agreed to meet with him two weeks ago leads Volpe to suspect that they may have come to the same conclusion.
“That was a good meeting. It gave me hope,” he said, noting that U.S. trade officials had not accepted an invitation to meet with him during the first six months of the negotiations.
“If you look at the fact USTR was willing to receive me in Washington for a real meeting, it is the best signal to me that we could be in a phase where we get over the hump.”