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[rooster59]

Mexican president-elect insists on trilateral NAFTA as U.S.-Mexico text awaited

By David Lawder and Anthony Esposito

 

FILE PHOTO: A car hauler heading for Detroit, Michigan, drives on the lane to Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico are due to release the text of their trade agreement on Friday, increasing pressure on Canada to join its partners in revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement while Mexico's president-elect said he would insist on a trilateral pact.

 

President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked him during a Thursday phone call "to intervene and call on the U.S. government to reach an agreement" with Canada. "We agreed to that."

 

But Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1, said the NAFTA language between Washington and Mexico City was now final.

 

"We are not going to re-open the negotiation. That you can be sure of," Lopez Obrador told reporters in Mexico City.

Even so, Lopez Obrador said "the negotiation is not closed" between the United States and Canada, and said he had received information that the Trump administration has made a new counterproposal to Ottawa.

 

Queries to Canadian officials and the U.S. Trade Representative's office to verify the U.S. proposal were not immediately answered.

 

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo was scheduled to present the text of the Aug. 27 agreement, which aims to rebalance auto trade and modernize parts of NAFTA, to Mexico's Senate at 7 p.m. EDT, Mexican government and Senate sources said.

 

Mexican Senator Ricardo Monreal said on Twitter the text would be released simultaneously in Mexico and the United States. A USTR spokesman declined comment on the timing.

 

The text of the U.S.-Mexico deal needs to be published by late Sunday night - 60 days ahead of the Nov. 30 deadline for Trump and Mexico's outgoing president, Enrique Pena Nieto, to sign the deal before Lopez Obrador takes office on Dec. 1.

 

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has argued that the United State would have to reopen negotiations with the new Mexican government if the deadline is missed, but Lopez Obrador's comments appear to call that into question.

 

Canada's Liberal government says it does not feel bound by the latest NAFTA deadline, and it repeated on Friday that it would not bow to U.S. pressure to sign a quick deal.

 

"We are in a very tough negotiation with the United States over NAFTA ... there is no deadline on this. As far as we are concerned we want a deal that is good for Canadians and that's the bottom line," Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters in Ottawa.

 

Some U.S. Democratic lawmakers said on Thursday they could not support a NAFTA deal without Canada.

 

"Canada is exceptionally important. I think it would be malpractice, both for economic and political reasons, not to have a major agreement with Canada," said Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the tax and trade Senate Finance Committee.

 

President Donald Trump, a Republican who blames the 1994 NAFTA pact for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, trumpeted the deal with Mexico as a win for Americans and threatened to close the door on Canada if it did not sign on by Sept. 30.

 

Trump also floated slapping auto tariffs on Canada, which could sow disarray in supply chains, take the wind out of the sails of a resurgent Canadian economy and rattle investors already unnerved by an escalating U.S.-China trade war.

 

AUTO TRADE

 

The U.S.-Mexico text will flesh out an agreement in principle that aims to rebalance automotive trade between the two countries and update NAFTA with new chapters on digital trade and stronger labor and environmental standards.

 

It is expected to conform to details previously released on auto rules requiring an increase in regional value content to 75 percent from 62.5 percent previously, with 40 percent to 45 percent coming from "high wage" areas, effectively the United States.

 

Auto industry executives say it is unlikely those targets can be met if Canada is not part of the deal, given supply chains that crisscross NAFTA borders multiple times.

 

Details also are expected on a side-letter that preserves the Trump administration's ability to impose global national security tariffs on imports of autos and auto parts, granting Mexico a quota for tariff-free exports to the United States that allows some expansion of production.

 

And more light is likely to be shed on the enforcement of new labor standards and trade dispute settlement arrangements. The United States has said Mexico agreed to eliminate a system of settlement panels to arbitrate disputes over anti-dumping and anti-dumping tariffs.

 

But a Mexican source close to the talks said the United States had in turn agreed to drop a demand for tariffs to protect U.S. seasonal produce growers.

 

Mexico also secured an exemption from U.S. "global safeguard" tariffs such as those imposed in January on washing machines and solar panels, the source said. Mexican-made products were hit by those actions, which were aimed at protecting U.S. producers from import surges.

 

The release of the trade deal text starts a months-long process for U.S. congressional approval that will require a lengthy analysis by the independent U.S. international Trade Commission and notification periods before an up-or-down vote.

 

Lawmakers briefed by Lighthizer said he told them the earliest a vote could occur, either on a U.S.-Mexico deal or a trilateral deal including Canada, would be February or March 2019, after the U.S. Congress elected in November is sworn in.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-29

[pegman]

Good for the in-coming government of Mexico to stand with Canada against Dumb Donald. Unlike those back stabbing Canadian conservatives like Harper & O'Leary.

[Kiwiken]

I fear sometimes the madman in Washington will start another great depression

[pegman]

1 hour ago, Kiwiken said:

I fear sometimes the madman in Washington will start another great depression

I think that's all an act. As for NAFTA there is reporting out now that a deal could be very close. 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-says-us-canada-could-reach-nafta-deal-012127951.html

[Ulic]

Tredeau is an idiot, Mexico stabbed Canada in the back. Mexico is paying Canada lip service now, saying they want a trilateral agreement but will not open the US-Mexico agreement. Mexico got what they wanted. Manufacturing jobs left Canada for cheap labour in Mexico a couple of decades ago. It has only been the last decade that the American multi-nationals have not reinvested profits in the US, instead, opening up new plants in Mexico. Mexican cheap labour is the problem not dairy in Canada. (although I hate the

milk marketing board, a complete scam). It's time for Canada to return Mexico the favor. Cancel the Mexican visa-free entry to Canada and declare Mexico unsafe for vacation travel. Police corruption-drug cartels. Urge Canadians to travel to other destinations in the Caribbean for their winter vacations. 

[pegman]

11 hours ago, Ulic said:

Tredeau is an idiot, Mexico stabbed Canada in the back. Mexico is paying Canada lip service now, saying they want a trilateral agreement but will not open the US-Mexico agreement. Mexico got what they wanted. Manufacturing jobs left Canada for cheap labour in Mexico a couple of decades ago. It has only been the last decade that the American multi-nationals have not reinvested profits in the US, instead, opening up new plants in Mexico. Mexican cheap labour is the problem not dairy in Canada. (although I hate the

milk marketing board, a complete scam). It's time for Canada to return Mexico the favor. Cancel the Mexican visa-free entry to Canada and declare Mexico unsafe for vacation travel. Police corruption-drug cartels. Urge Canadians to travel to other destinations in the Caribbean for their winter vacations. 

It was Mulroney who originally stabbed Canada in the back likely for brown bags full of $$$. That's just how he rolled as we later found out.

I also have no use for marketing boards and their $30k per cow quotas. The major problem is that the official opposition leader owes his job to the dairy cartel. This is due to the farce of an electoral system the Tories had for selecting their party leader. Mad Max was robbed now the conservatives will be divided into two parties going forward. 

Regardless of that Canada has moved on dairy tariffs both with the TPP and EU trade agreements. The Americans know we will move some on that issue and Trump is just using it to retain support of his position on trade overall. The real sticking point is the dispute resolution mechanism. Trump's Trade Representative Lighthizer is some kind of right-wingnut about third parties dictating anything to the USA. There is a lot of pressure on Trump from states right now over NAFTA and it looks like the Americans are moving off their ridged position on this so a deal may come in the next 30 hours. Outside of traitors like O'Leary, Harper and Lord Felon Black (foreigner but wife Canadian) all of Canada, including all political parties and provinces, are with Justin.

If that is what resolves this it could have been done months ago. Last spring Uncle Jean said on radio that at the end of the day the Yanks will do a lot of yelling and screaming but in the end a couple commas will be moved and Trump will declare the biggest victory ever.