There, Canada’s stand is – or has been – strong.
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Mexico’s Economy Minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, and the nation’s ambassador to the US have signaled in recent weeks that the country would be willing to explore ways to tighten the rules of origin in order to reach a compromise and move talks forward. The group also noted that Mexico and Canada have been two of the five top export markets for American poultry during the past decade and that Mexico “is today by far our largest market for USA poultry products”.
Smith, who represents western and central Nebraska along with the northeastern and southeastern corners of the state, said the congressional delegation is going to Montreal to “raise awareness” about the economic benefits of NAFTA. The U.S. has angered both Mexico and Canada with what those nations are calling “poison pill” demands that seem more created to sabotage the talks entirely than achieve an equitable resolution.
But the union also wants to make sure that while the renegotiated agreement results in attracting white-collar research and development jobs, it also preserves the blue-collar jobs in the auto assembly plants, Dias said. The Communications Workers, for example, cite call center jobs going to Mexico.
“If some things need to be updated that do not undermine the advances that NAFTA has helped make”, Smith said, that ultimately could be helpful.
Two major USA and Mexican labor federations said they have filed a complaint under the North American Free Trade Agreement against Mexican laws that allow companies to sign contracts with employer-friendly unions before they even open a plant in the country.
Thousands of them took to the streets of downtown Montreal, brandishing anti-NAFTA signs on January 23.
By creating a continent-wide auto market, Bozzella points out, NAFTA has encouraged the United States to innovate and thus to increase production.
Trudeau’s announcement about the new TPP came as the NAFTA partners gathered in Montreal for a week of negotiations.
Mexico’s lawyers are examining if there’s a case to be made at the World Trade Organization against the restrictions, said Guajardo, who added that he’ll ask U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer about the rationale for including Mexico in the measures when they meet January 25 in Davos.
“The enemy of American workers is not Mexican workers”.
“The reality is the original agreement was put together 24 years ago”, Dias told reporters in Montreal.
Either way, NAFTA is expected to be the prime topic when Trudeau participates in a roundtable discussion with several USA business leaders in Davos, reports Canadian Press.
Canadian chief negotiator Steve Verheul – describing the mood at the talks as “still reasonably constructive” – said the USA side would be taking the auto proposals back to Washington.
Canada has tabled what is being billed by government officials as a set of creative counter-proposals and the US response could make or break the talks. A no-NAFTA future would mean jeans made in Mexico and bound for the US, would also face a steep tariff. “Further, for half of the commodities listed, both Canada and Mexico were a top three market”.
Canada also has alternatives.
Darci Vetter, a former US chief agriculture negotiator, echoed that possibility.
Freeland’s conversation with her American NAFTA counterpart occurred on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
“Our concern is our government is a pro “free-trade” government”, regardless of who’s Prime Minister, Rowlinson said in a telephone interview.
Inflammatory and isolationist rhetoric from the USA president could make a NAFTA settlement – the figurative birds in the bush – even more hard to reach. And signs have been mounting from Canada and Mexico that they will be more flexible in trying to score a breakthrough in talks. “If we don’t have a NAFTA we can use, it’s the equivalent of not having a NAFTA”.
“We can handle up to one year, but that’s about it”, he said.
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The study examined two scenarios of a USA withdrawal.
