Talks between the U.S., Canada and Mexico aimed at revising and updating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are being extended into 2018 as negotiators struggle over several contentious proposals at the bargaining table.
Negotiators from all three countries had originally hoped to have talks concluded by the end of 2017, but now say more time is needed to deal with several sticking points that have proved hard to surmount by the parties involved. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in Ottawa confirmed that they are now looking to schedule further NAFTA negotiations in February 2018 and perhaps later in the spring.
CBC News reported that the standard five days per round of negotiations could also be extended to seven or even 10 days depending on progress at the bargaining table. Talks aimed at revising NAFTA have been held at a hectic pace to date, with rounds of negotiations scheduled just two weeks apart as the U.S. and Mexico have said they want negotiations wrapped before 2018 when elections are scheduled in both countries. The U.S. has midterm Congressional elections in the fall of 2018, while Mexico has a federal election next summer.
Yet concluding talks by the end of this year seems increasingly unlikely after U.S. negotiators made protectionist demands that Canada and Mexico have said are “non-starters.” A number of American demands have crossed so-called “red lines” for the Canadian negotiating team, including:
- Increased U.S. content in the auto sector.
- A five-year sunset clause on NAFTA.
- Restrictions on government procurement.
- Gutting NAFTA's dispute resolution mechanism.
- Increased access by foreigners to the Canadian dairy market.
Further causing divisions is the fact that the U.S. has dumped a handful of poison pills onto the negotiating table that have insulted Canadian and Mexican officials. There also appears to be a sense of confusion about the overall U.S. vision for NAFTA and who is really running the show. Media reports have suggested that American negotiators are taking direction from the Trump White House, a situation that has politicized the talks.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is President Donald Trump's point person on NAFTA. But he was not included in an Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week, when Prime Minister Trudeau pressed President Trump to support the trilateral trade agreement. Instead, Wilbur Ross, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, was at President Trump's side for the conversation.
Mr. Lighthizer is expected to attend a meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts on Wednesday of this week, with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico's Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo.
