Nafta negotiators dig in for long haul as talks resume in Mexico

Bloomberg

It’s looking increasingly likely Nafta talks will extend beyond a March target, meaning negotiators will have to deal with the added political uncertainty of a Mexican election campaign.
Thorny issues such as content rules for cars remain unsolved as negotiators met on Sunday through March 5 in Mexico City for the seventh round of talks. When negotiations began six months ago, politicians expressed optimism they could reach a deal by the end of 2017. They later pushed the goal to March—a deadline that now looks almost impossible. With the US complaining that progress on its demands is too slow, President Donald Trump’s threat to exit the pact is still weighing heavily over the discussions.
“The round in Mexico is very important, because it will give an idea if we can advance technically, and if the political can support that and put us on a path to resolving the differences,” said Juan Pablo Castanon, the head of the Mexican chamber of commerce. “The negotiations should take as much time as is necessary.”
Negotiators have finished work on three issues and could wrap up five to seven more this round out of a total of about 30, according Castanon.
Despite progress in modernising the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, there has been little or no movement on controversial and politically-charged US proposals that Canada and Mexico say would hurt their economies.
Political will has been building to extend the talks. Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo has signalled that his government is willing to negotiate through July’s presidential election.
Nafta negotiators have wanted to avoid clashing with the Mexican election, given that trade can be a lightening rod for voter anger over their economic situation.
Trump said that he could be “flexible” on the timetable for Nafta talks given Mexico’s vote, a position Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has voiced support for.
The nations began renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement in August 2017 at the initiative of Trump.
To revive US factories, Trump wants to raise the minimum content that a typical car must have to benefit from Nafta’s tariff exemptions to 85 percent from 62.5 percent.

‘Low Mexico wages are Nafta death knell’
Bloomberg

Improving labour rights in Mexico must be a central issue in reaching a new North American trade deal or the US
Congress won’t approve it,
two Democratic lawmakers said on the eve of a new round of Nafta talks.
“Labour rights in Mexico is not an issue that can be sidestepped,” Reps. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey and Sandy Levin of Michigan said. “It is the central issue that must be addressed in any rewrite of Nafta. Failure by Mexico to stop suppressing its workers’ wages will not only be an obstacle for a new NAFTA, it will be a death knell for any deal passing Congress.”
Levin and Pascrell seek to put labour issues front and centre just as a new round of negotiations to rework the Nafta began on Sunday.