OTTAWA: Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday that good progress has been made at the Nafta trade talks on the key issue of auto rules, though the threat of proposed US steel and aluminum tariffs coming into force next week clouded the mood.
Ms Freeland, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo met for a second straight day in a push to seal a quick deal on revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
“There is a very strong, very committed, good-faith effort for all three parties to work 24/7 on this and to try and reach an agreement,” Ms Freeland told reporters after talks with Mr Lighthizer.
The bulk of talks focused on rules of origin governing what percentage of a car needs to be built in the Nafta region in order to be sold tariff-free within North America, she said.
US President Donald Trump’s negotiators initially demanded that North American-built vehicles contain 85 per cent content made in Nafta countries by value, up from 62.5 per cent now. But industry officials say that has been cut to 75 per cent, with certain components coming from areas that pay higher wages.
The US trade representative was still pushing its proposal for wage standards for certain auto parts, a person briefed on the talks told Reuters.
