Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that U.S. demands for renegotiating NAFTA are far beyond anything her country can accept, just as the fifth round of talks closed in Mexico City with little progress toward a revamped agreement.
“Significant differences remain on some key areas … These are proposals we simply cannot agree to,” Freeland told reporters in Ottawa.
The NAFTA renegotiations have been rocky for several weeks. Canadian and Mexican officials rejected U.S. demands during the latest round to change the rules for determining when a product can be labeled as “made in America” or “made in the U.S.A.”
The two countries say the proposed U.S. changes would damage their auto industries because their supply chain is spread throughout the continent, according to an official with knowledge of the talks.
The administration also pushing to add a sunset clause to NAFTA as well as to allow countries to opt out of its investment dispute settlement system.
