GUIDANCE

The New NAFTA Is Still a Work in Progress

Sep 28, 2018 | 21:29 GMT

Presidential adviser Jared Kushner (L) and Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, helped wrap up a deal in August with Mexico revising the North American Free Trade Agreement. Text of that deal is being published in time to beat the deadline that leaves it eligible for fast-track approval.

US President Special Advisor Jared Kushner (L) and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (R) cross the street from the Trade Reprsentative's office to the White House after a meeting with Mexican Governement Ministers and officials on NAFTA in Washington on August 26, 2018. - The United States and Mexico are close to reaching a consensus over key issues stunting efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), officials from both countries said during the week-end. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images)

(ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The White House is expected to release the text of a new trade agreement with Mexico in time to sign it before Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office, but it has few hard deadlines in its trade negotiations with Canada.
  • If the U.S. administration tries to withdraw from NAFTA early next year, after submitting legislation to Congress to approve the deal with Mexico, then Canada may have more incentive to compromise with the United States.
  • But Congress will push back against any effort on President Donald Trump's part to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement without securing a trade deal with Canada.

Finishing off trade negotiations is never easy, but reaching a deal in the NAFTA renegotiations may be even tougher. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is set to publish the text of the new trade agreement between Mexico and the United States on Sept. 28 and to announce its intention to move forward with the deal. The agreement is a victory for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which was eager to wrap up the talks before midterm elections in November and before Mexico's next president, the populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, assumes power in December. But the negotiations aren't over yet. Discussions are still underway with the North American Free Trade Agreement's third party, Canada, with no clear timeline for their conclusion....

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