{"id":15565,"date":"2018-05-08T17:53:48","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T22:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/?p=15565"},"modified":"2018-05-08T17:53:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T22:53:48","slug":"nafta-negotiations-enter-critical-week-with-the-u-s-still-pushing-a-hard-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/nafta-negotiations-enter-critical-week-with-the-u-s-still-pushing-a-hard-line\/","title":{"rendered":"NAFTA negotiations enter critical week with the U.S. still pushing a hard line"},"content":{"rendered":"

From: Financial Post \/\u00a0Thomson Reuters \/\u00a0Veronica Gomez and Anthony Esposito \/ May 7<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources close to the talks have suggested there is a creeping feeling of uncertainty and pessimism because of gridlock on the most critical issues<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Talks to update the NAFTA trade deal enter a make-or-break week on Monday, as ministers from Canada, the United States and Mexico seek to resolve an impasse in key areas before elections in Mexico and the United States complicate the process.<\/p>\n

Discussions in Washington will center on rules of origin that govern what percentage of a car needs to be built in the North American Free Trade Agreement region to avoid tariffs, the dispute-resolution mechanism and U.S. demands for a sunset clause that could automatically kill the trade deal after five years.<\/p>\n

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned last week that if the talks took too long, approval by the Republican-controlled Congress may be on \u201cthin ice.\u201d The aim is to complete a vote during the \u201clame-duck\u201d period before a new Congress is seated after November\u2019s congressional elections.<\/p>\n

Mexico holds its presidential election on July 1 and the front-runner, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, says he wants a hand in redrafting NAFTA if he wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a window of opportunity in the next two or three weeks \u2026 considering two things: where the talks are now and the political calendars\u201d in Mexico and the United States, said Moises Kalach, head of the international negotiating arm of Mexico\u2019s CCE business lobby, which is leading the private sector\u2019s involvement in the talks.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the talks have suggested there is a creeping feeling of uncertainty and pessimism going into the new round because of gridlock on the most critical issues.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the NAFTA revamp is U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s desire to retool rules for the automotive sector in order to try to bring jobs and investment back north from lower-cost Mexico. Despite months of talks on the issue, the sides remain far apart.<\/p>\n

A round of talks among Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Lighthizer scheduled for last week was cancelled to allow consultations with the Mexican car industry and for the American to go on a trade mission to China.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s main auto sector lobby has described the latest U.S. demands, which include raising the North American content to 75 per cent from the current 62.5 per cent over a period of four years for light vehicles, as \u201cnot acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positive momentum on the rules of origin appears to be counterbalanced by the opposite movement on labour wage treatment proposals,\u201d said Flavio Volpe, president of Canada\u2019s Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association.<\/p>\n

The U.S. proposal also would require that 40 per cent of the value of light-duty passenger vehicles and 45 per cent for pickup trucks be built in areas with wages of US$16 per hour or higher.<\/p>\n

That is seen as a hard pill to swallow for Mexico, where the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research has estimated auto assembly workers average under US$6 an hour, and auto parts plants workers average less than US$3 an hour.<\/p>\n

Critics also say it would create a bureaucratic nightmare of paperwork.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From: Financial Post \/\u00a0Thomson Reuters \/\u00a0Veronica Gomez and Anthony Esposito \/ May 7<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: Financial Post \/\u00a0Thomson Reuters \/\u00a0Veronica Gomez and Anthony Esposito \/ May 7   Sources close to the talks have suggested there is a creeping feeling of uncertainty and pessimism because of gridlock on the most critical issues WASHINGTON \u2014 Talks to update the NAFTA trade deal enter a make-or-break week on Monday, as ministers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":8609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1516,1017],"tags":[722,424,684,199,1341],"class_list":["post-15565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-news","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-estados-unidos","tag-mexico","tag-nafta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrgibroker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}