NAFTA Negotiation With Mexico Set for Washington Next Week

Mexico's chief NAFTA negotiator will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on July 26, but Canada's foreign minister will not attend. Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told reporters in Mexico about the trip to Washington. The administration has been telling lawmakers that its ambition is to close a deal with Mexico first, and then bring Canada to the table. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters July 18: " We see a lot of progress on the conversations with Mexico and if we could make a bilateral deal with them, we're certainly very happy to do that." But Mexico continues to insist it wants a trilateral, not a bilateral, trade agreement.

John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, tweeted, "The outgoing Mexican government, and the team of the president-elect, appear interested in concluding negotiations by the end of August, which the parties must do if Peña Nieto is to sign the pact before he leaves office on Dec. 1. The real obstacle to concluding the negotiations is continued US inflexibility on poison pills such as sunset clause, enforcement, auto rules, procurement, etc. There has been no movement on these. And that shuts the door to a deal in both Ottawa and Mexico City -- both firmly oppose these US proposals. So -- there’s no opening for a bilateral pact with one or the other."