Canada's Freeland to Hold NAFTA Talks Tuesday as Time Presses

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will meet with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington on Tuesday for a new round of negotiations to renew the NAFTA trade pact.

Freeland spokesman Adam Austen did not give details. After more than a year of negotiations, Canada and the United States are still trying to resolve disputes over the North American Free Trade Agreement, which also includes Mexico.

US officials say time is running out to agree on a text on which the current Congress can vote. Canadian officials say they work until the end of September.

Freeland spent three days in Washington last week and said Friday she was preparing to leave. She and Lighthizer have made very good progress in some areas, although an agreement has remained out of reach.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, who says he is ready to rip NAFTA, has reached a trade agreement with Mexico and has threatened to continue without Canada.

Uncertainty about the future of NAFTA, which causes $ 1.2 trillion in trade, is weighing on the markets as well as the Canadian and Mexican currencies.

According to officials, Canada's milk quota system, Ottawa's desire to maintain a dispute settlement mechanism, and Canadian media laws that favor domestically produced content are the main points of disagreement.

US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that Canada was to abandon a low price policy for milk protein in order to reach an agreement on food. NAFTA. US farmers complain that Canada is flooding the export markets.

Austen, asked if Freeland could return to Washington later in the week, said that no decision had been taken. She is scheduled to attend a two-day meeting of Liberal Party legislators in western Canada on Wednesday and Thursday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last Wednesday that he did not see the need to attend the talks at the moment.