NAFTA/TRADE DEALS: “U.S., Canadian and Mexican officials, buffeted by political disagreements and controversial moves by the Trump administration, notched relatively minor progress in recent days in a big push to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement this year.
The second round of Nafta talks in Mexico City wasn’t intended to result in major breakthroughs or serious horse-trading among negotiators, and more substantive progress is expected in the third round later this month in Ottawa, officials said. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the second round built on the preparatory work of the first round in Washington…
U.S. officials said they reached broad consensus, but not full agreement, in provisions governing small and medium businesses, services, digital trade and the environment.
Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said he expects to ‘start seeing results in the third round of talks.’
An adverse political backdrop isn’t helping negotiators with a goal of wrapping up talks around the end of the year and submitting a new Nafta for approval in the countries’ congresses and parliament as soon as next year.
President Donald Trump, who made criticism of Nafta a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, recently renewed threats to pull out of the trade agreement, which has bound North American economies through shared commercial rules and duty-free trade for 23 years.”
-William Mauldin and dudley Althaus, “U.S., Canada, Mexico Make Minor Progress on Nafta Talks,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 5, 2017 06:05pm