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Next round of NAFTA talks to last 15 days: Mexican business leader

Xinhua,May 05, 2018 Adjust font size:

MEXICO CITY, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The next round of talks to modernize NAFTA could last for 15 days and an agreement will be reached or not depends on the flexibility of the U.S. delegation, said a Mexican business leader on Friday.

The president of Mexico's business coordination council (CCE), Juan Pablo Castanon, told journalists that a "closing scenario" exists for NAFTA ahead of the next round of talks beginning in Washington D.C. on May 7, but added this required "flexibility in the U.S. positions."

"These are 15 very important days of negotiations which will start next Monday," added the entrepreneur.

On April 27, the chief negotiators of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico agreed to restart the talks on May 7, after three weeks of technical meetings took place to try and speed up an agreement.

Castanon said that, in order to reach a final resolution, Mexico needs to see conditions which will boost employment and increase its competitiveness.

"If we do not see the conditions of competitiveness which allow Mexicans to keep growing with our trading partners, there will not be the conditions to close (an agreement)," he said.

While the talks have seen several chapters finalized, major differences still remained, such as automotive rules of origin.

The president of the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA), Eduardo Solis, said on Monday that the Mexican government and the country's automotive industry are designing a proposal for regional rules of origin which will be tabled at the next meeting.

Mexico's chief negotiator, Kenneth Smith, said on Twitter on Friday that he has been holding numerous meetings with the automotive industry ahead of the talks in Washington.

Mexico, Canada and the United States have been renegotiating NAFTA since August 2017, at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, who feels the free-trade pact has been bad for the American economy.

After seven rounds of talks, only six chapters out of around 30 have been agreed upon. Enditem

 

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