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Auto manufacturers say NAFTA has had huge benefits for the US economy, even though it has led to job losses in the manufacturing sector. The industry is open to "modernizing" NAFTA, but wants to block some of the proposals as the United States works to renegotiate the free trade agreement.
Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press

On Tuesday, September 25, 2018, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland participates in a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.(Photo: Adrian Wyld, Associated Press)

TORONTO – Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has postponed her speech to the US as free trade negotiations between the United States and Canada intensified.

Freeland was scheduled to deliver Canada's speech to the General Assembly in New York on Saturday, but Canada exchanged the message with another country. Freeland may or may not deliver the speech on Monday.

A senior Canadian government official said negotiations were progressing but he was not sure they would reach an agreement soon. The manager, who requested anonymity because he was not allowed to speak in public, said Canada would only sign a good deal. Bloomberg reported Saturday that the two countries were on the verge of reaching an agreement this weekend.

Canada, the second largest trading partner of the United States, was left behind when the United States and Mexico reached an agreement last month to reorganize the North American Free Trade Agreement. The United States and Canada are under pressure to reach an agreement before the end of the day on Sunday, when the United States must publish the full text of the agreement with Mexico.
US President Donald Trump said he wants to make NAFTA revised – with or without Canada. It is not clear, however, whether Congress allowed Trump to continue NAFTA with only Mexico, and some legislators say they will not accept an agreement excluding Canada.

Among other things, the negotiators are fighting over high prices for dairy products in Canada. Canada also wants to maintain a dispute resolution process under NAFTA that the United States wants to abandon.
The talks between Canada and the United States stalled earlier this month and most trade analysts expected the September 30 deadline to be met without Canada being reinstated. They suspected that Canada, which had declared that it was not bound by the deadlines imposed by the United States, had delayed talks until after Monday's provincial election in Quebec, where support for tariffs on dairy products Canadian is high.

Trade lawyer Daniel Ujczo, of the Dickinson Wright law firm, who is closely following the NAFTA negotiations, said that the US was pressuring Canada, saying that "we are in the middle of the NAFTA negotiations". there would be "consequences" if he could not reach an agreement on Sunday. Trump repeatedly threatened to tax Canadian auto imports. Ujczo has placed the probability of an agreement this weekend at 75%.

Relations between the two neighbors have been tense since the onslaught of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-7 meeting in June, calling him "weak" and "dishonest". Canadian leaders opposed Trump's decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security.

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