Canada rejects criticism from U.S. on NAFTA talks

OTTAWA Canada is shooting back at American criticism that it is being inflexible and unconstructive at the North American Free Trade renegotiation that has resumed this week in Montreal.

Canadian officials are taking direct aim at the narrative that its negotiators are being inflexible — or even obstinate — when it comes to discussing the controversial U.S. proposals to raise continental content on automobiles, scrap the dispute resolution mechanism, and institute a fiveyear sunset clause.

They say Canada has tabled complete chapter proposals on more than half of NAFTA’s 30 sections, and has put forward substantive proposals and text on every part of the entire agreement already.

Senior officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations discussed the Canadian approach on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

With written Canadian proposals sitting on all tables, the sixth round in Montreal is about returning in earnest to the bargaining to find a creative space that works for everyone, officials say. Canada put most of its text on the tables by the end of the second round, and all of it by the third, officials said.

The so-called American poison pills on autos, dispute resolution and the sunset clause were tabled after that. That makes them counter-proposals as far as Canada is concerned, they added.

Because of that, Canadian officials are perplexed by reports the Trump administration is annoyed at Canada’s unwillingness to engage, and its insistence on including so-called progressive trade elements. All four tenets of Canada’s progressive agenda — gender, labour, environment and Indigenous issues — are on the agenda for talks this week, officials said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland hosted Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo in Toronto on Monday in an attempt to compare notes on the upcoming NAFTA round.

“The two agreed that all parties must show goodwill and that negotiators must continue to focus on issues that will promote economic prosperity in North America. Both ministers committed to achieving real progress during this round of NAFTA negotiations in Montreal,” Freeland’s office said in a statement that appeared aimed directly at U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Lighthizer is to be in Montreal next Monday to close the sixth round with Freeland and Guajardo. Freeland and Lighthizer are working on a meeting Thursday or Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Montreal talks are unfolding under the ever-present threat that U.S. President Donald Trump will trigger NAFTA’s six-month withdrawal clause. Freeland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other cabinet ministers say they are prepared for anything but are emphasizing their hope for a deal.

Mexico has been pushing a vigorous Plan B agenda, to compensate for a possible U.S. withdrawal and is communicating that to the Trump administration, according to sources familiar with that country’s negotiating position, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the talks.