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by Jenny Leonard and Eric Martin
Canada has been rebuffed in its recent attempts to engage NAFTA with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during negotiations between the United States and the United States. Trump administration and Mexico.
The Canadian negotiating team, led by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, has been informed that Lighthizer is focusing on negotiations with Mexico and does not want to engage with Canada in this regard. moment, according to people, who ask not to be named discuss private conversations. The situation has been reported for the first time by the National Post.
Freeland went to Mexico last week and the trip was motivated in part by the decision of the United States to isolate Canada from the talks, according to one of them. . While Mexico and Canada have repeatedly stressed the need to maintain the three-nation agreement, the negotiation with Mexico and Canada would be in line with President Donald Trump's preference for striking bilateral agreements [19659005]. The Canadian government's approach to the modernization of NAFTA, and we now see it unfold in front of our faces, "said Adam Taylor, director and co-founder of the trade consulting firm Export Global Action. "We have seen virtually overnight Mexico and the United States going forward and Canada seems to be left behind and then finding itself in a position where it has to make a significant set of concessions just to be readmitted to negotiations, it seems. "
Alex Lawrence, a spokesman for Freeland, said that Canada is committed to modernizing NAFTA while defending Canadian interests. "We will continue to work for a good deal for Canada," he said by e-mail
. Trump has repeatedly said how difficult Canada and Mexico have been since the beginning of the negotiations last August. About Mexico recently.
Although the three countries remain distant on some important points, Trump said earlier this month that he is heading for a "dramatic" deal with Mexico and that he may give priority to a bilateral agreement with Canada. Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday that talks with Mexico are going well and could be close to completion.
Lighthizer told a US Senate committee last week that the United States is on the brink of concluding a new NAFTA agreement with Mexico next month, adding that this would spur Canada to sign the US # 39; agreement.
"I hope that we will come to a conclusion about Mexico for a very long time and that, therefore, Canada will intervene and begin to compromise, and I do not believe that they have compromised same way as the United States or Mexico, "said Lighthizer to Senators
Mexican Minister of Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, will be in Washington for further meetings with Lighthizer on Thursday and Friday. Last week, Freeland traveled to Mexico on July 25 but has not met Lighthizer since mid-June, she should be in Singapore this week for the annual meetings of the Association of Nations of Southeast Asia, according to a statement from his office.Laurent stated that the trip was "planned for a long time and that it was important for Canada to deepen its links with our Asian business and security partners "
The press offices of the Mexican Ministry of the Economy and the US trade office did not immediately respond
To contact the reporters on this story: Jenny Leonard in Washington at [email protected]; Eric Martin in Mexico City to [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues to [email protected] Chris Fournier, Stephen Wicary
© 2018 Bloomberg LP
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