NAFTA negotiators look to settle non-controversial issues

MONTREAL — NAFTA negotiators are close to completing at least six non-controversial chapters this weekend in their Montreal talks, including ones on digital commerce and anti-corruption, Canadian and Mexican business officials say.

The chapters won’t be considered formally closed until the three leading political ministers from Canada, the United States and Mexico arrive Sunday to assess the progress.

But the possibility of “parking” the chapters – a trade term that essentially means putting an issue on the shelf and concentrating on other, more contentious ones - is raising hopes among Mexican and Canadian business leaders that enough incremental progress will be made in Montreal to keep the negotiations alive.

The apparent progress sheds light on less controversial aspects of the sprawling 30-chapter NAFTA renegotiation, where Canadian counter-proposals to socalled U.S. poison pills on autos, dispute resolution and a sunset clause are front and centre.

Many analysts also view progress on the “low-hanging fruit” of NAFTA as essential.

“We think there is a lot of advancement between six and 10 chapters. I didn’t say they’re going to close them - a lot of advancement. But the ministers have the last word on that,” Moises Kalach, a leading member of the private-sector group that advises the Mexican government on the negotiations, said on Friday. “They call it parking,” he said. Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, did not dispute Kalach’s assessment that six to 10 chapters could be nearing completion.

“How many chapters I don’t know, but there’s scope to close some of the chapters,” Beatty said in an interview. “It’s when you come down to the more politicized issues it becomes more difficult.”

E-commerce, anti-corruption, customs and trade facilitation, and the chapter on “Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures” covering human, animal and plant life are among those chapters, Juan Pablo Castanon Castanon, Beatty’s Mexican counterpart, said in an interview.

A senior official familiar with the talks disputed the characterization that any chapters are close to being closed or parked. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The official did say that Canada hoped to make progress in this round on anti-corruption, digital and cross border trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and telecom.