Mexican Official Says NAFTA Talks Going Well
After the second two-hour meeting in as many days with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexico's economy minister said the talks are going well, and they're working on all the outstanding topics. Ildefonso Guajardo was evasive about progress on auto rules of origin, a top priority for the U.S. administration, which wants trucks and cars to be counted as North American only if more work is done in factories with middle-class wages. "We're doing our best to do it as fast as possible," he said.
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Guajardo is negotiating alongside Jesus Seade, who will be the lead negotiator once the next Mexican president takes office in December. Guajardo said: "We still have proposals coming back and forth. For me, it's a long night, until two-o'clock in the morning, we're changing texts on different things."
Guajardo said he will meet again with Lighthizer on Aug. 10. The USTR's insistence on a sunset clause -- an idea opposed by many business interests and lawmakers -- will be the last issue resolved, Guajardo predicted. Canada also opposes a sunset clause. Canadian negotiators have not been at the table over the last two weeks, but Guajardo says it's still going to be a trilateral deal, and they will rejoin talks once specific Mexico-U.S. hurdles are resolved.