Trade: NAFTA negotiations at risk

The fourth round of NAFTA talks began this week “amid increasing acrimony,” said David Lawder and David Ljunggren in Reuters .com. Mexican and Canadian negotiators were taken aback by contentious new demands from U.S. officials, as President Trump made “fresh threats to terminate the 23-year-old agreement.” Negotiators have reportedly stumbled over U.S. demands to sharply increase North American parts requirements for automobiles; the U.S. has also called for “radical changes to NAFTA’s dispute arbitration systems and changes to intellectual property provisions.”