U.S. says Step 1 in NAFTA talks may come in weeks

Set stage for renegotiations later this year

WASHINGTON • The U.S. government hopes to take the first formal step in renegotiating NAFTA within the next couple of weeks, setting the stage for actual negotiations with Canada and Mexico later this year.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he hopes to advise Congress within two weeks of the Trump administration’s intention to renegotiate the quarter-century-old agreement.

That would begin a prenegotiating consultation process of at least 90 days. It could take more than three months; American lawmakers are wrestling with more pressing priorities — health reform and the first major changes to U.S. corporate taxes in decades.

Lawmakers would also have their say on priorities for NAFTA.

U.S. law says that if the administration wants lawmakers to agree to a simple yes-or-no vote on a trade deal, it must consult with Congress throughout the process — before negotiations start; during negotiations; and before signing the deal.

“The next stage will be — hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks — issuing the 90-day (consultation) letter,” Ross said Friday, during a news conference with Mexico’s Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal.

“That’s what triggers the beginnings of the formal process itself. We don’t have a date certain for that. We’ve been in discussion with the (key committees) — (the) Senate finance committee and the House ways and means committee.”

But the process could be slowed down by a congressional logjam.

The Senate and House committees that would be involved in consultations are tied up with controversial health and tax reforms. There are battles within the parties, and between them.

One such feud involves trade.

The U.S. agency that deals with Congress on trade, the U.S. Trade Representative, is understaffed and doesn’t even have a cabinet member confirmed yet.