Trade officials from Canada returned to the U.S. Wednesday as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland resumed talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, but there are so far no major developments on the contentious issues being discussed, including dairy market access and the dispute settlement mechanism, top issues for Canada, which wants protection to remain in place for its dairy market. Further, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada will not sign a revised agreement without the dispute settlement mechanism and a cultural exemption that will prevent the sale of Canadian media organizations to U.S. companies, according to the Hagstrom Report.
While President Trump has offered a ‘go it alone’ approach for the U.S. and Mexico, U.S. lawmakers appear to refuse to support a deal that doesn’t include all three nations.
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.