The U.S. and Mexico plan to hold ministerial-level NAFTA trade talks on Thursday in Washington, D.C., the second such meeting within a week as efforts are ramped up to seal a deal on updating the 24-year-old accord, two sources said.
This story by Reuters appeared in Automotive News Canada.
Mexico and the U.S. agreed last week to step up talks on revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement in hopes of reaching an agreement on major issues by August.
There will be “technical meetings probably until Wednesday and a ministerial meeting on Thursday,” a Mexican source close to the talks told Reuters on Monday. A second Mexican source close to the talks also said a ministerial meeting was planned for Thursday.
“We will be there,” but it is not yet clear if the meeting will be trilateral and include Canada, said the first source.
A spokesman at Mexico’s economy ministry said there would be technical meetings this week, but said he did not know whether a ministerial meeting would take place.
Mexican Economy Minster Ildefonso Guajardo last week held what he described as “constructive” and “very positive” talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is scheduled to leave Canada on Tuesday for a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Singapore, the Canadian foreign ministry said. With the ASEAN meetings running from July 30-Aug. 4, it is unlikely Freeland would make it to Washington for the Thursday talks.
