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Tillerson says U.S. 'studying' the newly signed CPTPP

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday said the Trump administration was assessing the implications of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership that was signed on Thursday. “The Administration is studying how the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will affect American workers and America’s interests in the Indo-Pacific region,” Tillerson said in a March 9 statement. “The United States values its trade relationships with each of the signatories to the CPTPP and looks forward to engaging them on ways to strengthen...

Canada releases TPP-11 side letters on culture, autos, more

The Canadian government on Thursday released details on the side letters it has struck with other members of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership . Among others, letters related to cultural issues were signed with every other member of the TPP-11. Canada also signed letters on autos with Australia, Japan and Malaysia. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership was signed on Thursday in Santiago, Chile. In a press call on Thursday, Bruce Christie, Canada’s chief trade negotiator for the CPTPP,...

Q&A: Levin on labor, TPP, NAFTA

Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) was in Mexico City over the weekend for the seventh round of NAFTA talks, and he didn't hear what he wanted to hear from the U.S. negotiators there, as Inside U.S. Trade reported. “The negotiators who were here on the labor chapter left before we even arrived,” Levin told reporters. “So we had a briefing by phone and the briefing by USTR labor people was totally inadequate. It did not touch the key issues...

Trudeau to Trump: Steel and aluminum tariffs make a NAFTA deal harder

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday told President Trump that tariffs on steel and aluminum would complicate the NAFTA negotiations, his office said. According to the Canadian readout on the March 5 call between the two leaders, Trudeau “registered his serious concern about the U.S. Administration's proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. He emphasized that the introduction of tariffs would not be helpful to reaching a deal on NAFTA.” The readout released by the White House , meanwhile, did...

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Lighthizer statement at the close of the seventh round of NAFTA negotiations


Lighthizer: Not enough progress made at seventh NAFTA round, with time running out

North American Free Trade Agreement negotiators did not make the progress that “many had hoped” would be made in the seventh round of talks, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Monday, warning that the three countries were running out of time. Crediting negotiators for solid work in closing a few new chapters and two sectoral annexes, while also getting closer in several other areas, Lighthizer lamented that after seventh months of talks only six of “roughly 30” chapters were...

Guajardo takes on Trump's linkage of steel and aluminum tariffs and NAFTA, says Mexico should be excluded

Mexico's economy minister has hit back at President Trump's tweeted linkage of steel and aluminum tariffs to a new NAFTA, saying Mexico should be excluded from the remedies. On Twitter, Ildefonso Guajardo – Mexico's political lead in the NAFTA talks, who is set to close a seventh round of negotiations in Mexico City today – said his country “shouldn't be included in steel & aluminum tariffs. It's the wrong way to incentivize the creation of a new & modern #NAFTA.”...

Trump to Canada, Mexico: Steel, aluminum tariffs stay unless 'new & fair' NAFTA is inked

Mexico and Canada will not be exempted from steel and aluminum tariffs the president plans to impose this week unless a new and “fair” NAFTA deals is reached, Trump tweeted on Monday morning. The explicit linkage comes as Mexico and Canada, among other allies, are openly urging the president to exempt them from the tariffs – and as the three countries wrap up a seventh round of NAFTA talks in Mexico City. “We have large trade deficits with Mexico and...

Brady: Canada and Mexico should be exempt from tariffs; Navarro asserts global imposition

MEXICO CITY – On the margins of the seventh round of the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation talks here, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) on Sunday said Canada and Mexico should be exempt from steel and aluminum tariffs President Trump is set to impose this week – but presidential adviser Peter Navarro said no such exclusions are planned. Earlier in the week, Brady and other congressional Republicans urged Trump to reconsider levying a 25 percent...

Auto, dispute settlement, sunset clause talks progress as bilateral discussions break out on ISDS

MEXICO CITY – Negotiators have made progress on automotive rules of origin, state-to-state dispute settlement and a review mechanism during the seventh round of North American Free Trade Agreement talks here, though the U.S. continues to refuse to back down from some of its more controversial proposals, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The U.S. has, however, agreed to include a stand-alone energy chapter, easing off its insistence that provisions on energy could be addressed in other parts of...

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