Difficult NAFTA round three set to start in Canada

The third round of talks on revamping NAFTA, which start today in Ottawa, are expected to be punishing as diplomatic tensions mount.

Over the course of a week, negotiators will hammer out details of the broad proposals submitted by some 20 working groups during the previous round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Mexico City. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer along with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal had said “significant progress” was made at the end of the last round of talks, but no details were released.

In the meantime, President Donald Trump’s protectionist vitriol and separate trade rows over accusations of softwood lumber and aircraft dumping in the US have deadened many Canadians’ goodwill.

“We won’t do business with a company that’s busy trying to sue us,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, threatening to nix a purchase of warplanes from US manufacturer Boeing after it launched a trade complaint against Canada’s Bombardier.

Canada’s economy, along with Mexico’s, has been bound tightly with the United States through NAFTA for the past 23 years.

An Ekos Research poll published this week, however, found that 77 percent of Canadians want their government to walk away from the talks if a “good deal” cannot be secured for Canada.

At the same time, with no substantive progress having been announced on key issues, consulting firms KPMG and Eurasia Group are urging businesses to “start working on backup plans.”