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US, Canada in last-minute NAFTA deal: media
OTTAWA, Oct 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Canadian and US negotiators reached a deal
late Sunday on reforming the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
Canadian media reported, after more than a year of talks triggered by US
President Donald Trump’s discontent with the 24-year old pact.
CTV cited a high-level American source as saying the two sides had reached
an agreement and that a joint statement was expected.
Another Canadian channel, CBC, said a “senior source” confirmed that a
deal had been reached on significant sections of a new NAFTA.
Word of an agreement followed an emergency cabinet meeting called by
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at 10:00 pm (0200 GMT) — two hours
ahead of a Washington-imposed midnight deadline for getting the text of a
revised agreement to the United States Congress.
Reports of a deal caused a jump in the Canadian dollar on early Asian
trading with the loonie up 0.7 percent from its Friday close at $1.2814.
Talks between the US, Canada and Mexico began last August after Trump
called it “one of the worst trade deals in history.”
Earlier Sunday, David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the United
States, had said there was “lots of progress, but we’re not there yet,”
before heading back to Washington from Ottawa.
Peter Navarro, an adviser to Trump on trade, told Fox News: “Everybody is
negotiating in good faith right now as we speak.
“The deadline is midnight tonight to get the text into Congress to make
sure this goes forward.”
Canada’s The Globe and Mail cited four sources as saying an outline of a
deal had been reached but Trump and Trudeau still needed to approve it. The
two sides were hoping to finalize the pact overnight ahead of an announcement
on Monday, The Globe and Mail said.
The United States and Mexico want to push a deal they separately
negotiated through their respective legislatures before Mexican President-
elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office on December 1.
In the United States, Congress needed the text of the deal by the late-
Sunday deadline if a 60-day review period is to be respected.
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– High political stakes –
Trump has been pushing for a complete overhaul of the agreement which he
says has been a “rip-off” for the United States.
Speaking at a political rally in Wheeling, West Virginia on Saturday
night, Trump told supporters: “We’ll see what happens with Canada, if they
come along. They have to be fair.”
In August — more than a year into the negotiations — the United States
and Mexico announced they had reached a two-way deal, after breaking away for
bilateral talks on their outstanding issues.
But the ensuing talks to incorporate Canada stumbled.
Ottawa and Washington remained at odds over Canada’s subsidized dairy
sector, and the dispute resolution provisions in NAFTA.
Concessions on dairy would be politically difficult for Trudeau’s
government, a matter complicated yet further by elections being held Monday
in the dairy producing province of Quebec.
The main Quebec parties and farmers’ organizations are in favor of
retaining the “supply management” system, which controls the production and
price of milk and poultry and ensures stable incomes for Canadian farmers.
Tempers flared this week on both sides as the end-of-month deadline
approached.
“We’re not getting along with their negotiators,” Trump said Wednesday of
Canada.
Trudeau fired back: “We won’t sign a bad deal for Canada.”
The political stakes are high on both sides of the US-Canadian border:
Trump needs to look strong heading into the November midterm elections, where
his Republican Party is fighting to keep control of Congress, while Trudeau
does not want to be seen as caving before next year’s general election.
More than two-thirds of Canadian exports go to the United States,
equivalent to 20 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, while Canada is the
largest export market for the United States.
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