Key NAFTA talks open in Mexico amid complaint of U.S. inflexibility

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A key round of talks to update the NAFTA trade pact formally opened on Friday, but within hours Canada was complaining about inflexibility by the United States, which is demanding big changes, a union leader said.
Canada and Mexico went into the talks prepared to address hard-line U.S. demands that they had previously dismissed as unworkable, officials said.


But Canadian union leader Jerry Dias said Canada’s chief negotiator Steve Verheul told him in a private meeting that the U.S. side was unwilling to budge.

“Steve Verheul in essence is saying the United States is not showing any flexibility,” Dias told reporters when asked what Verheul told him. Dias repeated his long-standing prediction that the talks would end in failure.

There is relatively little time left to thrash out a deal under the current schedule. Negotiators met in Mexico City for the fifth of seven planned rounds that are due to wrap up by the end of March to avoid affecting Mexico’s presidential election.

A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is in overall charge of the NAFTA negotiating process, declined to comment on the remarks by Dias. A spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer also declined to comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who says the North American Free Trade Agreement is a “disaster,” has frequently threatened to ditch the pact unless big changes are made.


“We’re just getting started. There’s a long ways to go. It’s a challenging negotiation,” Verheul told reporters earlier in the day.

Canadian and Mexican officials initially indicated they would simply not discuss contentious U.S. proposals such as a five-year sunset clause and boosting the North American content of autos to 85 percent from the current 62.5 percent.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-complaint-of-u-s-inflexibility-idUSKBN1DH2AK

 

NAFTA is turning this Country into a Spanish-speaking Bangladesh.

The new rash of trade agreements will screw over all the mexicans they let in.