Trump team readies for NAFTA fight

WASHINGTON — As negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the United States head to Ottawa, Ontario, this weekend for a third round of North American Free Trade Agreement talks, the Trump administration is releasing data it says proves the playing field is tilted against U.S. manufacturers.

A Commerce Department report released Friday contains data showing the United States is playing a diminished role in manufacturing products that are bought and sold around the continent. Meanwhile, countries outside of North America — like China — are capitalizing on NAFTA’s weak rules and benefiting from the trade agreement, the report said.

The administration’s report is expected to dominate NAFTA discussions over ‘‘rules of origin.’’ Those rules govern how much of a good must be produced in North America to qualify for NAFTA’s zero tariffs on many products.

The United States is expected to push for raising those limits. Negotiators also appear poised to argue for a new requirement on how much of those goods need to be made in the United States.

Current thresholds vary for different products, but are aimed at ensuring that North American workers receive most of NAFTA’s benefits.

The rules for automobiles, for example, require 62.5 percent of the value of a car must be manufactured in Canada, Mexico or the United States for the automobile to move between the countries, duty-free. That means a car could source up to 37.5 percent of its value from a country like China and still be eligible for preferential treatment under NAFTA.

These requirements have become one of the biggest areas of conflict in the NAFTA debate, particularly for U.S. negotiators who are seeking to fulfill one of President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign promises: Remaking trade agreements to revive U.S. manufacturing.

The president and his advisers say that the deal allows raw materials or components to be shipped into North America from elsewhere and incorporated into manufactured goods, like cars or electronics, that can then be shipped among Canada, Mexico and the United States without paying import duties.

In its report, the Commerce Department said that the share of U.S.-produced content in manufactured goods imported by the United States from Mexico fell from 26 percent in 1995, shortly after NAFTA was signed into law, to 16 percent in 2011.