Mexico and Canada insist NAFTA remain a trilateral trade deal

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Canadian and Mexican officials insisted on Wednesday that the North American Free Trade Agreement would have a "sunset clause" that would have the end of the deal years.

Mexico City, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said they remained optimistic about the progress of the negotiations to revamp the 24-year-old trade pact.

Talks began last August in the run-up to the Mexican presidential election. That was due, at least in part, to U.S. demand for sweeping changes in the auto sector and for a sunset clause, which would make the deal one of the world's largest trading blocks up for renewal every five years.

U.S. President Donald Trump can not be renegotiated to his country's interests.

Freeland and Guajardo struck an upbeat tone, with Guajardo saying about two-thirds of the agreement.

In Washington, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny lost the prospect on Wednesday that NAFTA could be negotiated with Canada and Mexico, in order to reach an agreement first with Mexico by September.

Although Mexican officials are heading to Washington this week to meet with their counterparts, Guajardo stressed that a deal between the three countries remains the goal.

"The fact that we are going to Washington to participate in bilateral talks is to reinforce the concept of the trilateralism of this agreement," he said. "The essence of this agreement is trilateral, and it will continue to be trilateral."

Freeland will be in Washington this week for the NAFTA talks, a spokesman said.

Freeland said the sunset clause could not help the auto industry, adding that Ottawa opposed to U.S. investigation of auto imports.

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who won the nation July 1 election, has said he wants to accelerate the negotiations. His lead NAFTA negotiator, Jesus Seade, will join the Mexican delegation in Washington this week.

Freeland later held what she described as having a clear understanding of where he stood on NAFTA. She declined to give details.

"Canada's very clear desire is to move the NAFTA negotiations back into higher gear than we are past the Mexican election," she told reporters on a conference call.