U.S. and Canadian negotiators will meet in Washington Tuesday to resume talks regarding fitting President Trump’s trade deal with Mexico into the North American Free Trade Agreement, a week earlier than previously indicated, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Monday.
Talks between the U.S. and Canada to get its assent to the administration’s bilateral trade deal with Mexico fell short in late August, prompting the administration to submit the deal to Congress on Aug. 30, arguing that Canada’s support is not essential to the deal’s approval. Nevertheless, the two sides have continued talking, neither willing to abandon efforts to square the deal within the NAFTA framework.
“We are certainly making very good progress at understanding each other, understanding what each side needs,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters last week.
The lack of support from Canada could nevertheless cause the deal to stall in Congress, many lawmakers having argued that Canada must be on board to prevent the deal from disrupting the NAFTA. The U.S.-Mexican deal “supplants,” in the administration’s own words, parts of NAFTA, creating an uncertain legal situation if Congress approves the deal.
[Related: The NAFTA ball is in Canada’s side of the court, key congressional Republican says]
