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Canada’s race against time with US to reach NAFTA deal
MONTREAL, Sept 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Will Canada and the United States thaw
their unprecedented diplomatic chill and reach a deal to revamp the North
American Free Trade Agreement by a US-imposed Sunday deadline? Ottawa is
certainly working hard on it.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator, opted
to push back her planned Saturday speech before the UN General Assembly until
Monday so she could concentrate on trade matters.
Those talks are now in a crucial phase. Negotiators are racing against the
clock because of a US-set deadline.
The United States and Mexico want to push their deal through their
respective legislatures before Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador takes office on December 1.
In the United States, Congress must have the text of the deal by Sunday if
a 60-day review period is to be respected.
In a surprise twist, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said
Friday that Washington and Ottawa had told him they could reach a compromise
on an updated trilateral agreement within “48 hours.”
“For the first time, we’re seeing a real effort by both sides,” Guajardo
added.
US and Canadian negotiators were expected to work all weekend via secure
video link, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported Saturday, citing sources in
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration and on the US industry side.
– Tough talks –
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a complete overhaul of the
25-year-old continental trade deal, which he says has been a “rip-off” for
the United States.
In August — more than a year into the negotiations — the United States
and Mexico announced they had reached a two-way deal, after breaking away for
bilateral talks on their outstanding issues.
But the ensuing talks to incorporate Canada have stumbled.
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According to the negotiators, Canada’s insistence on a trade dispute
provision and its protected dairy sector are the last major sticking points.
Ottawa is also seeking assurances that the United States will not, after
signing a new NAFTA deal, turn around and hit Canada with punitive auto
tariffs.
Tempers flared this week on both sides as the end-of-month deadline
approached.
“We’re not getting along with their negotiators,” Trump said Wednesday of
Canada.
Trudeau fired back: “We won’t sign a bad deal for Canada.”
– ‘Significant concessions’ –
But on Saturday, The Globe and Mail reported progress, citing industry and
government sources saying that Canada had made “significant concessions” on
the dairy issue in order to make a deal possible.
One US industry source in contact with US negotiators told the Canadian
paper that Washington was “serious” about enforcing the Sunday deadline,
having repeatedly missed other cut-off dates during the tortuous
negotiations.
If no deal is made, US tariffs on Canada’s auto sector — one of its
largest industrial sectors — could quickly be put in place, the same source
said, though a Canadian official insisted that Washington had made no new
threats on tariffs.
Trudeau met in recent days with Lopez Obrador, who promised not to turn
his back on Canada, while also saying he was happy with the deal he had
reached with Washington.
The politics are high-stakes on both sides of the US-Canadian border.
Trump needs to look strong heading into the November midterm elections,
while Trudeau does not want to be seen as caving before next year’s general
election.
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