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The Canadian government has started intensive weekend trade talks with the Trump government in hopes of reaching an agreement on a revised North American Free Trade Agreement before the Sunday deadline imposed by the United States.
A sign that Canada is making every effort, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Nafta's chief negotiator in her country, has postponed Saturday's speech to the UN General Assembly.
Ms. Freeland is now in Ottawa, and she has not yet planned to go to Washington, said someone familiar with government planning. Key informants informed by the Canadian government over the weekend said that they were ready for the possibility of an announcement as early as Sunday.
On Saturday afternoon, it was unclear whether the two sides had made significant progress in bringing disputes together on many issues. "The talks are intense," said a Canadian official, adding, "We will not comment on deadlines." US officials declined to comment.
The move came as President Trump and his staff expressed frustration at what they called Canada's intransigence in negotiations a month after Trump reached an agreement with Mexico's third pact partner, Mexico. . Mr Trump said he was ready to make efforts to replace the trilateral pact a quarter century ago by an agreement reserved for the United States and Mexico.
Trump's US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, told members of Congress on Thursday that Canada-US disagreements seemed too important to reach an agreement with Ottawa before September 30, set by the United States. United.
A second Canadian official warned that the negotiations may not be completed before the end of Sunday, when the Trump administration should publish a public text on the agreement previously negotiated between the United States and Mexico.
The official said the negotiations could continue until October, a possibility that Lighthizer appeared at an appearance last week in New York. Ms. Freeland and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have repeatedly said that they are ready to take the time to reach an agreement that would benefit all countries.
Canada's decision to move the US spokesman post was the latest in a series of events over the past 24 hours, indicating a last-minute attempt for the three Nafta parties to reach a agreement on a revised pact.
On Friday night, Mexico was due to publish the text of a pact with the United States at the end of last month. The unveiling was postponed, the Mexican Minister of the Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, saying that a serious effort was needed to conclude a trilateral pact.
The drafting of the text was endorsed by Mexico's President-elect Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, although he added that he was unwilling to renegotiate what the United States and Mexico had agreed to.
Write to Kim Mackrael at [email protected], Paul Vieira at [email protected] and Jacob M. Schlesinger at [email protected]
