Commerce Secretary Says There Are Fewer Trade Issues With Canada Than With Mexico

The U.S. could be on a "pretty rapid track with the Mexican talks" to close NAFTA, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Indo-Pacific Business Forum July 30. He said that Mexico's role in NAFTA is "intellectually more complicated" than Canada's, and "there are fewer issues with Canada." So, Ross said, if the Mexico side can be solved "we should be able to fill in with Canada." Ross's comments contrast with what U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Senators last week (see 1807260029), when he said that "I don't believe [Canadians] have compromised in the same way the United States has and Mexico has," and he suggested closing the deal with Mexico would force Canada to bend.

Ross, who was interviewed by former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, defended his boss's decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Ross said it's revisionist history to say Trump killed the TPP. "Well, he did, but TPP was going nowhere," Ross said. "I think what people in some cases have already forgotten, TPP was dead regardless of who won the election. ... the Congress votes weren't there." Ross also suggested that the U.S. gives up more in a free-trade agreement that size. You have to give a concession to one country, then another, and each country gets the benefit of these concessions, he explained. "You go through ten or twelve of these, and you're pretty well nicked up," he said.

On the trade conflict with China, Ross said negotiations will have to take place at some point so the country returns to normal tariff levels. "Will we get everything we want? Probably not. Will we make a lot more progress than has been made in the prior decades? We're quite convinced we will, because at the end of the day, it's not in anyone's interest to have this go on for 100,000 years."

The Chamber also released a report July 30 that says that in order to compensate all the sectors damaged in a trade war, the U.S. would have to spend another $27.2 billion -- including $7.6 billion for auto and auto parts manufacturers; $960 million for chemical manufacturers; $884 million for prepared foods (not including prepared fruits, vegetables and meats) manufacturers; and $811 million to fishermen.