U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced Wednesday morning that the fourth round of talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement would be extended by two days, indicating that the talks were intensifying as the administration pushes for concessions from Canada and Mexico.
“In an extension of previously announced dates, the negotiating round will now be Oct. 11-17 to allow additional time for negotiations,” the trade representative’s office said in a statement shortly before the latest discussion was scheduled to begin. The talks were originally scheduled to conclude on the 15th.
The Trump administration has pushed aggressively for changes to the 1993 trade deal. Lighthizer has sought a sunset clause for NAFTA, a provision to allow member nations to opt of its investor-state dispute settlement system, and to change the rules for country of origin labeling, among other proposed changes.
The efforts have raised alarms within the business community and the other nations. In a press conference last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that the administration was making excessive demands it was unlikely to achieve. This has business groups fearing the administration might pullout of NAFTA altogether, a threat President Trump has repeatedly made in the past.
Lighthizer however expressed optimism Wednesday, saying the administration had already reached agreement on the deal’s competition chapter that “substantially updates the original NAFTA and goes beyond anything the United States has done in previous free trade agreements.”
“I am pleased to welcome back Secretary [Ildefonso] Guajardo [Villarreal], Minister [Chrystia] Freeland, and their teams to continue negotiations here in Washington. Thus far, we have made good progress, and I look forward to several days of hard work,” Lighthizer said.
