Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC that the North American Free Trade Agreement re-negotiations are “far from being completed.” While noting that progress was made on easier provisions, he says “very little has been done on the hard issues,” including automotive trade and agriculture. Ross says President Trump could still choose to withdrawal from the agreement, saying a final renegotiated deal “will either be 100 percent or zero percent” acceptable.
However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp Wednesday said: “I don’t think the president is going to be cancelling it,” saying it would be “obviously bad,” if he did.
The next series of talks are to begin February 26th in Mexico City.
Meanwhile, there’s speculation that the bid to salvage the free-trade pact will continue beyond an end of March deadline, which was set to avoid Mexico’s presidential race.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.