The Trump administration is set to push forward a Mexico-only NAFTA update — but that doesn’t mean Canada is out of luck.
Officials from Washington and Ottawa remain at loggerheads in trade talks despite weeks of face-to-face negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement and keep it as a three-country deal. The impasse raises fears the U.S. will leave Canada, its biggest export market, out of the renegotiated trade bloc, resulting in potential barriers for more than $500 billion in annual cross-border trade.
The U.S. is planning to publish the text of its bilateral trade accord with Mexico on Friday, which will likely exclude Canada, according to three people familiar with the matter. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn’t sound fazed.
"We will keep working on a broad range of alternatives, a broad range of paths are ahead of us," he said Wednesday. "We’re going to keep focusing on trying to get to the right deal for Canadians." Recommended Video:
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Trade talks between the US and Canada have ended without a deal. The bid to update the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico had been going for a week but was soured by President Trump’s leaked comments that any deal would be "totally" on US terms. But Ottawa stood firm: "We’re looking for a good deal. Not just any deal. And we will only agree to a deal that is a good deal for Canada. We’re not there yet," Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia […]
This story is part of our ‘News from Around the Web’ publication, continue reading the story here: NAFTA’s Not Dead Yet for Canada If U.S.-Mexico Deal Moves Ahead