After more than a month of U.S. -Mexico negotiations without Canada at the table, Trump on Monday announced a preliminary trade deal with Mexico alone.
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If Trump proceeds with the tariffs now under consideration based on national security concerns, Mexican duty-free exports of cars and sport-utility vehicles to the United States would be capped at 2.4 million vehicles annually. Volumes above that level would be subject to tariffs, auto industry officials and other sources said.
Canada had been on the sidelines for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement but got back in the game with new urgency after the USA and Mexico announced a tentative deal Monday.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will arrive in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
He sees Canada under greater pressure to accept US trade terms in light of Trump’s renewed threat to slap punishing tariffs on vehicles and auto parts entering his country from Canada. So did Canada really think that the US and Mexico were going to sign something alone, or did they see this as a bluff?
In addition, when asked about the timeline for China, Mnuchin said that the trade disputes are not issues that are going to be resolved in one or two meetings. What’s the rollback in the other areas, and what does Mexico think they agreed to? He also warned that the US and Mexico would move forward bilaterally without Canada.
The U.S. currency has fallen for three consecutive weeks, and is down almost 2 percent.
Encouragingly, there are only a “handful” of topics to discuss in trade talks that are “not insurmountable”, but the Canadian team needs to “lace up their skates and come prepare to compromise”, Greenwood said.
“We had another good meeting today, officials are engaged now very intensively” said the Foreign Minister. “We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico trade agreement”. “To change objectives and negotiate a bilateral deal with Mexico means that he would have to terminate the NAFTA, because the NAFTA binds all three countries”, Herman said.
Mexico’s peso strengthened against the United States dollar, as did the Canadian dollar, while the United States dollar index weakened slightly.
President Trump also suggested he might leave Canada out of the new agreement – which would be called the “United States-Mexico Trade Agreement”.
She added negotiations with Mexico would also be taking place Tuesday evening.
GREENE: Can I just ask you, is there a chance here, if there is a deal, that there could be – I don’t know – a calming down of tensions between the US and Canada?
The new trade deal between the US and Mexico aims to catch up with the contemporary legal and regulatory environments of the technology sector. Otherwise the deal would need 60 votes, meaning multiple Democrats would have to support it.
Through an interpreter, Pena Nieto reminded Trump four times Monday that he hoped Canada would be part of an eventual trilateral agreement. Freeland’s spokesman Adam Austen said in a statement Canada “will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class”. USA stocks edged to record highs for a third consecutive session.
The Trudeau government has repeatedly pledged to protect dairy farmers, but Canada has opened up limited access to its dairy market in previous trade talks, including its comprehensive pact with the European Union. And Canada’s almost 300-percent tariff on imported dairy products has been an issue raised by Trump in the past.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he thought the Friday deadline could be met.
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And his administration started a ticking clock, saying it would notify Congress of a deal on Friday whether or not Canada was involved.
