WASHINGTON”•Negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the United States open the first round of talks Wednesday to revamp the 23-year-old regional free trade agreement some see as a demon and others as a savior.
Between those extremes, there are high expectations but vastly different views on how to remake the North American Free Trade Agreement into a deal that pleases all sides, and fulfills President Donald Trump’s repeated campaign promises to help US workers.
Trump famously denounced Nafta as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere,” and promised to pull out of the agreement he said has destroyed US jobs, but succumbed to pressure to renegotiate instead.
Given recent criticism over his handling of North Korea, Venezuela and the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump will need to have something he can call a victory out of the talks.
However, he recently warned again that he will “terminate Nafta” if “we don’t get the deal we want.”
While some view statements like this from Trump as bombast, Fred Bergsten, director emeritus of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, warned, “Failure is an option.”
“We don’t like to say that, we don’t like to think about it, but it’s true,” he said, warning of serious consequences to the US economy.
Even with that threat hanging over the talks, negotiators are going into the first of several rounds of negotiations optimistic about updating the pact that was signed before the internet was a force, and covers a market of nearly 500 million people.
Large negotiating teams from Canada, Mexico and the United States will meet through Sunday to develop the new text of the pact. They are due to reconvene September 5 in Mexico City.
The timeline for the talks is expected to be aggressive, given elections in Mexico in July 2018, as well as the US legislative calendar.
A USTR official confirmed plans to add a chapter on digital trade, as well as incorporating side agreements added after the fact on environmental and labor standards.
Canada also has stressed the need for stronger labor and environmental rules in the agreement.
For the White House, however, the central focus is on changing Nafta rules to reduce the US trade deficit and to protect US manufacturing jobs.
“The deficit is a large issue that we will have to address, and intend to address, in a comprehensive way,” the USTR official told reporters.
“Our starting point for the negotiation of the NAFTA is to get a more balanced, reciprocal trade agreement that supports more high-paying jobs for Americans and grows the US economy.”
