User login

FTA Central

Lighthizer: 20-25 Senate Democrats 'in reach' on NAFTA

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, asked by the president yesterday to update a room full of lawmakers on the NAFTA renegotiation, insisted the deal has a good chance of success – with significant Democratic support. “I think we're making progress on NAFTA,” he told the president . “There was a lot of anxiety at one point as to whether or not we'd be in a position where we would have to withdraw in order to get a good agreement.” The...

Freeland to meet with Ross and Sens. Brown and Corker on Wednesday

Canada’s foreign affairs minister and political NAFTA lead, Chrystia Freeland, will head to Washington, DC, on Wednesday for a slew of meetings to promote “close Canada-United States ties,” her office announced. A Freeland spokesman told Inside U.S. Trade she will be meeting with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, as well as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-TN). Freeland’s one-day visit will not include a meeting with her counterpart on trade, U.S. Trade Representative...

Canada's NAFTA negotiator blasts U.S. government procurement proposal as 'worst' in history

The government procurement proposal the U.S. has put forward in NAFTA renegotiation talks is the “worst proposal that's ever been made in history,” Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator, Steve Verheul, said on Tuesday. Verheul made the remarks at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute’s “State of Trade” conference in Ottawa, according to a tweet from the institute . The Canadian Press also reported that Verheul said the U.S. proposal might be the worst ever put down at a negotiating table. The U.S...

Ag groups write to Lighthizer welcoming engagement with TPP countries

President Trump’s new openness to a deal with the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries is being warmly received by agriculture groups, many of which strongly supported the deal that Trump withdrew from in one of his first acts of office. In a Feb. 8 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the Asia-Pacific Market Working Group of the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade welcomed Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Dvaos, Switzerland, in which Trump said he would...

Sen. Scott, Lighthizer discussed review of Section 201 washers remedy after 18 months

In a White House meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) raised the possibility of decreasing the duration of newly imposed safeguard tariffs on washing machines, and later told Inside U.S. Trade that while he received no commitment from the USTR, Lighthizer said the remedies could be reviewed in a year and a half. “I think we're at least listening to one another. We're not on the same page. We're not going to...

Freeland refuses to say if Canada wants binding indigenous, gender rights in NAFTA

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday refused to specify whether the language Canada is seeking on indigenous and gender rights in NAFTA will be binding or symbolic, despite repeatedly being pressed to do so during a hearing in Canada’s House of Commons. Freeland, Canada's political lead in the NAFTA talks, was asked about the binding nature of the commitments on indigenous and gender rights the Trudeau government is seeking. “I wonder if you could share with us whether...

Mexico's top NAFTA negotiator defends deal's 'trilateral nature'

Mexico's lead NAFTA negotiator wanted to get a few things off his chest on Thursday morning, using Twitter to defend the deal's “trilateral nature” a day after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was said to have suggested doing a separate deal with Mexico. “The strength of NAFTA comes from its trilateral nature: a region working together in order to compete effectively with the rest of the world,” Kenneth Smith Ramos said in one of several tweets on NAFTA. The strength...

Report: Mexico to bring auto regional content proposal to next NAFTA round

Mexico is planning to come to the next round of NAFTA talks with a proposal to hike auto regional content requirements, according to a senior government official – though he added there was “very little” room to move. Reuters quotes Rogelio Garza , the deputy minister for industry and commerce, saying the counter to the U.S. proposal on auto rules of origin would be advanced at the seventh round of talks in Mexico City later this month. However, he said,...

Lighthizer defends engagement with Capitol Hill in Ways & Means briefing

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in a closed-door meeting with House Ways & Means Committee members on Wednesday, defended his efforts to engage with Congress since taking office last year -- which some on Capitol Hill have faulted as insufficient. Lawmakers and people briefed on the session told Inside U.S. Trade a large part of the meeting dealt with the administration’s engagement efforts with Congress and a lack of senior personnel needed to speed up the ongoing NAFTA...

Cornyn on Trudeau: 'Who is threatening an end to NAFTA now?'

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Twitter late Wednesday after Trudeau again said Canada would walk away from a new NAFTA if it was a bad deal. “Who is threatening an end to NAFTA now?” Cornyn tweeted . President Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA since before he was elected, while Trudeau last week made international headlines when he said Canada was “ willing to walk away from NAFTA if...

Pages

Not a subscriber? You can request 30 days free access to exclusive, behind-the-scenes reporting on trade policy in the Biden era.