NAFTA Negotiators Close Three More Chapters
Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico's Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo expressed optimism that their countries and the U.S. will be able to reach an agreement that can be sold to the public in all three countries, while U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer sounded a more cautionary note at a joint press conference at the end of the seventh round of negotiations in Mexico City. "I fear the longer we proceed the more political headwinds we will feel," Lighthizer said March 5.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
They announced that negotiators were able to close chapters on good regulatory practices, on sanitary and phytosanitary issues, and on publication, notification and administration of laws, which commits the three countries to clearly disclose "all the information affecting exporters, service providers and investors," Guajardo said through an interpreter. The negotiators have nearly closed chapters on telecommunications, intellectual property, financial services and state-owned enterprises, Guajardo said. "Digital trade, e-commerce, there’s just one obstacle we have to solve," he said.
He said that Freeland's and Lighthizer's attendance sends a message of commitment, and that there is a way to reach agreement. "To accomplish this, we have to understand where the other one’s standing, so we can be closer to a conclusion that will be good for all of us," he said.
Lighthizer chose to emphasize that only six of the 30 chapters have closed in seven months, and said, "We have not made the progress that many had hoped in this round." He said the United States must have changes to NAFTA so that it doesn't encourage outsourcing -- a reference to the investor-state dispute system -- and to rules of origin for automobiles. America prefers to have a NAFTA 2.0, but if that proves impossible, he said, "we are prepared to move on a bilateral basis."
Freeland said NAFTA does need to be broadened so that it benefits more people, not just in the United States. She indirectly criticized Trump's view that other countries are ripping the U.S. off because U.S. consumers buy more of their goods and services than those countries buy from U.S. firms. "This can and should be a shared project -- that’s because trade is not a zero sum game. In trade, we can all win," she said. She reiterated her point that Canada will not stand for tariffs on its steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. It is the largest exporter of both of those metals to the U.S., but buys more U.S. steel than it sends across the border.
"As the No. 1 customer of American steel, Canada would view any restriction on Canadian aluminum and steel as unacceptable," she said (see 1803020018). If tariffs or quotas are imposed on Canada as part of the Section 232 measure, "Canada will take appropriate responsive measures to protect our interests and Canadian workers."