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Talks on revising NAFTA extended into 2018
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IANS | 18 Oct, 2017
Representatives of the US, Mexico and Canada announced here that
negotiations on revising the 1994 NAFTA will continue into next year in
the face of "significant conceptual gaps among the parties".
US
President Donald Trump initially set a goal of completing the talks this
year, but the just-completed fourth round of discussions exposed
substantial differences among the three governments on key issues, Efe
news reported.
"New proposals have created challenges and
ministers discussed the significant conceptual gaps among the parties.
Ministers have called upon all negotiators to explore creative ways to
bridge these gaps. To that end, the parties plan on having a longer
inter-sessional period before the next negotiating round to assess all
proposals," US Trade Representative Robert Lightizer told reporters on
Tuesday while reading from a joint statement.
The fifth round, to be held in Mexico City, has been postponed until November 17-21.
Lightizer
was joined by the leaders of the other two delegations, Mexican Economy
Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia
Freeland.
Trump, a critic of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), has repeatedly threatened to scrap the accord
altogether if Canada and Mexico do not agree to the changes he wants.
Even
before the fourth round began last week, prospects for success seemed
to be fading as Washington demanded controversial amendments, such as
the addition to NAFTA of a "sunset clause" that would require the treaty
to be reaffirmed by all three signatories every five years in order to
remain in effect.
Lightizer complained on Tuesday about the unwillingness of his counterparts to accede to US proposals.
"NAFTA
has resulted in a huge trade deficit for the United States and has cost
us tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs. The agreement has become
very lopsided and needs to be rebalanced. We of course have a $500
billion trade deficit. So for us, trade deficits do matter. And we
intend to reduce them," he said.
"Frankly, I am surprised and disappointed by the resistance to change from our negotiating partners."
Freeland
accused the US of taking a "winner-takes-all" approach to the
negotiations and described the latest demands as "troubling".
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