NAFTA talks with U.S. shift into high gear

WASHINGTON — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says the time has come for high-level decisions on the future of NAFTA.

She said Thursday that around-theclock work by officials has armed negotiating teams with the documents they need to start making some concrete calls as the U.S. and Canada accelerate their effort to wrap up the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Freeland has been in meetings in Washington this week with her American counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Officials worked late into the night and again all day to find areas of common ground and compromise.

“This was another good, constructive, productive conversation with Ambassador Lighthizer and his team,’’ Freeland told reporters during a pause in Thursday’s talks.

“We’ve moved into a very intense rhythm of the negotiations, where our officials are working hard preparing issues for some high-level ministerial decisions.’’

With talks coming to a head, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a conference call Thursday with premiers to discuss trade-offs. Freeland planned to be on the call, as did Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, and Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister responsible for intergovernmental affairs.

After the call, provincial leaders were tight-lipped on the details of the discussion.

“We are at a very delicate moment, obviously, at the negotiations, and the first thing we agreed upon is that we wouldn’t issue any comment on what we discussed and what we heard,’’ Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard told reporters.

This week’s new round of U.S.Canada negotiations has generated hopeful signals from both camps that a deal could be struck by the end of the week.