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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is becoming "very, very close" to continuing its trade deal with Mexico without Canada, White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett said Friday.
White House Council Chair Kevin Hassett speaks to reporters at the White House's daily briefing in Washington, DC, on February 22, 2018. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst / Files
It remains a little more than a week before the October 1 deadline imposed by the United States to publish the text of an agreement to update the North American Free Trade Agreement. American and the United States and Canada still do not agree Canal.
"We are still talking to Canada, and we are coming very, very close to the deadline we will have to go ahead with Mexico on our own," said Hassett, who chairs the Council of Economic Advisers of the House. -Blanche. .
Washington has a bilateral trade agreement with Mexico at the end of August and threatens to exclude Canada, if any.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland left Washington on Thursday after two days of inconclusive discussions with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Asked to respond to Hassett's comments, a spokesman for Freeland stressed his repeated comments that Canada "will not be motivated by a deadline but by a good deal."
Investor worries about the future of the 1994 Pact, which highlights an annual trade of $ 1.2 trillion, have regularly harmed the stock markets of the three countries, whose economies are highly integrated.
A senior White House official said Friday that he hoped Canada would agree to sign the US-Mexico trade agreement by the end of the month, adding that US lawmakers would support an agreement bilaterally with Mexico if this did not happen.
But Canada says it does not believe that US President Trump has the power to unilaterally transform NAFTA into an agreement between two nations. US business groups and some high-ranking Democrats say NAFTA must be preserved as a trilateral group.
Access to the Canadian dairy market, trade dispute panels, and US requests to impose tariffs on its northern neighbor remain controversial.
"I'm a little surprised that Canadians have not registered yet," Hassett said.
"I'm concerned that politics in Canada does not make sense, because Mexico and the United States have done a very good job of attracting Canada. And they do not register and everyone is a bit puzzled.
Freeland and Lighthizer are scheduled to visit New York next week for the UN General Assembly, but it is unclear whether they will meet.
Additional report by David Lawder in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa, written by David Lawder; edited by Chizu Nomiyama, Bernadette Baum and Susan Thomas
