Could Super Bowl ads be blocking a NAFTA deal?

Canadians, it seems, were desperate to see those muchhyped American advertisements during the Super Bowl telecast, and the CRTC obliged.

Now the agency ’s unusual decision to ban the substitution of Canadian ads during the game — and other issues around Canada’s sweeping regulation of culture — may be holding up down-to-the-wire NAFTA negotiations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested recently he would not sign any revamped trade deal with the U.S. that weakened Canada’s “carveout” of cultural industries from free-trade rules. An official familiar with the last-minute talks in Washington to update NAFTA confirmed Thursday the cultural exception is a “sticking point.”

In Washington Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland wrapped up two hours of talks with her U.S. counterpart Robert Lighthizer, which resulted in fresh marching orders for their respective negotiating teams.

“We really are confident, as we have been from the outset, that a deal which is good for Canada, good for the United States and good for Mexico is possible,” Freeland said.

She added that officials “were given some instructions at this meeting and they will continue to work and our negotiations continue.”

Trudeau’s comments on culture last weekend underscore a raft of U.S. concerns in the area, addressing everything from those NFL ads to cable companies freely distributing U.S. TV channels, and a range of Canadian-content rules.

They are grievances shared by the American entertainment industry, including the powerful Motion Picture Association of America. In a submission to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer last year, it decried the exemption of Canadian culture from the trade pact.

“Such a carve-out is inconsistent with the principles of free and fair trade,” the group argued. “NAFTA is the only U.S. trade agreement currently in force that includes a cultural carve-out.”

U.S. television and movie companies, which stand to make less money from licensing their products if Canadian customers can’t substitute local ads, have urged the Trump administration to address the issue in NAFTA talks.