NAFTA trade ministers to square off over hard-line US demands
WASHINGTON: Trade ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico wrap up a contentious round of NAFTA trade talks marked by aggressive US demands that have left the future of the 23-year-old free trade pact in doubt.
The proposals to drastically reshape the North American Free Trade Agreement to help shrink US trade deficits have cast a pall over the modernization talks, leaving some participants and analysts wondering how the NAFTA partners can avoid an impasse.
The US demands, previously identified as red lines by its neighbours, include forcing renegotiations every five years, reserving the lion’s share of automotive manufacturing for the United States and making it easier to pursue import barriers against some Canadian and Mexican goods.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland are scheduled to meet and take stock of the negotiations before issuing statements at a joint event at 3pm. (1900 GMT). They later plan to separately brief media.
Lighthizer has made no apologies about his hard negotiating line, which he has said reflects US President Donald Trump’s desire to claw back lost manufacturing jobs and shrink US goods trade deficits amounting to US$64 billion with Mexico and US$11 billion with Canada last year.
Trump has continued his attacks on NAFTA throughout the talks launched in August, repeating his threats to terminate the pact if Mexico and Canada won’t agree to changes.
US negotiators opened a new front over the weekend with a proposal that Canada dismantle its system of protections for the dairy and poultry sectors, a move that Ottawa will reject, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday.
US opposition to NAFTA’s dispute resolution mechanisms, plans to restrict outside access to government contracts and attacks on Canadian dairy and softwood lumber producers have further stoked the grim mood among trade officials. — Reuters