U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday also raised the possibility of the U.S. moving forward on “a bilateral basis” with Canada and Mexico, if extending the pact in its current tripartite form “proves impossible.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during the closing NAFTA Round 7 press conference in Mexico City on Monday voiced the need for parties to act quickly to complete the renegotiation, pointing out upcoming Mexican, U.S., and Canadian national, congressional, and provincial elections, respectively.
Mexico will elect a new president July 1, and the campaign begins in earnest next month, Lighthizer said.
“Both Ontario and Quebec have elections scheduled later this year,” Lighthizer said. “Finally, the United States has mid-term elections coming up in November. All of this complicates our work. I fear that the longer we proceed, the more political headwinds we will feel.”
But House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico City for the seventh round, was “very encouraged” by the progress of that session, noting “solid” advancement on “nuts and bolts issues” critical for a modernized NAFTA, he told reporters Monday, according to a transcript of a press gaggle.
Brady indicated good progress is being made in sectors including agriculture, energy, telecommunications, and digital trade.
“As we visited with U.S. business
leaders in Mexico City, delegations from Mexico and Canada and our USTR
team, I’m convinced there are big wins in a modern NAFTA,” Brady said.
“Big job wins. Big paycheck wins. And certainly, for the U.S., Mexico,
and Canada, big wins in making our North America region even more
competitive against China and other countries in the world. I was
encouraged. I also came away with a very strong message
that all parties are committed staying at the table and concluding a
strong, modern 21st century trade agreement of NAFTA.”
Lighthizer also raised the possibility of the U.S. moving forward on “a bilateral basis” with NAFTA countries, if extending the pact in its current tripartite form “proves impossible.”
There was common ground during the press conference between Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo and Lighthizer on the matter of “rebalancing” the agreement.
“Rebalancing trade” should be taken into account as part of the renegotiation’s overarching objective to be an agreement tying together North American interests, Guajardo said through a translator at the press conference.
“This is an objective we can take upon ourselves, provided we have the [goal] of the expansion of trade, of the strengthening, and also the enrichment of productive chains and value chains in North America, as well,” Guajardo said.
Rebalancing should include changing NAFTA so that it no longer encourages outsourcing, developing rules of origin that will “fairly treat” the U.S. manufacturing sector and workers, and “reshaping” the rules of government procurement, Lighthizer said.
Lighthizer expressed additional concern about the pace of negotiations, noting the closure of three chapters during the round—Good Regulatory Practices, Administration and Publication, and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, as well as the sectoral annexes of chemicals and proprietary food formulas—wasn’t “the progress that many had hoped in this round.”
He added that, “To complete NAFTA 2.0, we will need agreement on roughly 30 chapters. So far, after seven months, we have completed just six. Now granted, these things tend to converge more towards the end of a negotiation.”
Lighthizer added that the parties are substantially progressing on Telecommunications and Technical Barriers to Trade, and have agreed to formulate an energy chapter.
Guajardo had a slightly different perspective that Lighthizer on timing, saying through his translator that while six of 30 chapters is “not much work” to complete in about six months, the seventh round in Mexico City “contributed exactly the same number of chapters [total] that we had already accumulated in six previous rounds. So in this round, we’re increasing [efficiency] 100 percent.”
Upcoming elections a cue to negotiate NAFTA quickly, Lighthizer says
