Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are still carrying on with NAFTA renegotiation in Washington.
Freeland hailed yesterday that “there is a very strong, very committed, good-faith effort for all three parties to work 24/7 on this and to try and reach an agreement.” And, some “good” and “constructive” progress was made. They are working on “a set of “proposals based on the creative ideas the U.S. came up with in March”.
But there are still some major differences. For example, Canada is firm on it’s stance that object the including of a “sunset clause” what would allow one of the three members to quit after five years. Freeland said that the withdrawal mechanism is “absolutely unnecessary”.
Also Freeland reiterated Canada’s opposition to US steel and aluminum tariffs, which is currently exempted until May 1. She said “Canada’s position has been clear from the outset and that is that Canada expects to have a full and permanent exemption from any quotas or tariffs.”
