NAFTA talks enter critical week with US still pushing hard line

WASHINGTON: Talks to update the NAFTA trade deal enter a make-or-break week, as ministers from Canada, the United States and Mexico seek to resolve an impasse in key areas before elections in Mexico and the United States complicate the process.

Discussions in Washington will center on rules of origin that govern what per centage of a car needs to be built in the North American Free Trade Agreement region to avoid tariffs, the dispute-resolution mechanism and US demands for a sunset clause that could automatically kill the trade deal after five years.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned last week that if the talks took too long, approval by the Republicancontrolled Congress may be on ‘thin ice.’

The aim is to complete a vote during the ‘lame-duck’ period before a new Congress is seated after November’s congressional elections.

Mexico holds its presidential election on July 1 and the frontrunner, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, says he wants a hand in redrafting NAFTA if he wins.

“We have a window of opportunity in the next two or three weeks ... considering two things: where the talks are now and the political calendars” in Mexico and the United States, said Moises Kalach, head of the international negotiating arm of Mexico’s CCE business lobby, which is leading the private sector’s involvement in the talks.

Sources close to the talks have suggested there is a creeping feeling of uncertainty and pessimism going into the new round because of gridlock on the most critical issues.

At the heart of the NAFTA revamp is US President Donald Trump’s desire to retool rules for the automotive sector in order to try to bring jobs and investment back north from lower-cost Mexico.

Despite months of talks on the issue, the sides remain far apart.

A round of talks among Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Lighthizer scheduled for last week was cancelled to allow consultations with the Mexican car industry and for the American to go on a trade mission to China.

Mexico’s main auto sector lobby has described the latest US demands, which include raising the North American content to 75 per cent from the current 62.5 per cent over a period of four years for light vehicles, as ‘not acceptable.’