MPrime Minister Justin Trudeau makes his entrance before addressing
a conference in Toronto on Wednesday. (CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday told lawmakers “I think we’re in a pretty good place” on auto negotiations — the most positive statement he’s made on the issue.
WASHINGTON—Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are moving toward a solution on the automotive dispute that has been a key obstacle to the success of North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, President Donald Trump’s trade chief said Wednesday.
The unusually positive words from U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who had been sharply critical of Canada’s posture at the bargaining table, corroborated Tuesday’s auto-related optimism from Canadian Ambassador David MacNaughton. Taken together, their words suggest that prospects for a NAFTA deal have brightened.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday he believes there is a ‘certain momentum’ in the NAFTA negotiations. The U.S. confirmed there has been a breakthrough in the talks over a leading irritant involving the auto-sector. (The Canadian Press)
“The U.S. had a proposal, Canada had a proposal and Mexico has been engaged on the issue. And I think we’re in a position where we’re finally starting to converge,” Lighthizer said in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee.
MacNaughton said Tuesday that NAFTA talks over the last two weeks have been “more positive than I’ve seen them before.” He told reporters, according to The Canadian Press, that the Trump administration has introduced ideas that would essentially replace its controversial previous proposal for a strict minimum on the amount of each car that would have to be made in the United States to avoid tariffs.
Lighthizer did not offer any such details. But in the most positive public comment he has made on the automotive issue, he told lawmakers that “I think we’re in a pretty good place.”
Hobert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, testifies at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on trade policy in Washington on Wednesday. (TOM BRENNER/THE NEW YORK TIMES)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday morning that a deal is “eminently possible.” Speaking to reporters in Toronto later in the day, he declined to comment on the automotive situation, but said “there seems to be a certain momentum around the table now that I certainly take as positive.”
He added: “But we will see what new challenges come up in the coming weeks as it continues.”
The shift in the U.S. tone comes after a lengthy meeting last week between Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, and amid a pressure campaign from the U.S. auto industry, which strongly opposed a previous U.S. proposal for a new 50-per-cent U.S. content requirement, plus an increase in the North American content requirement from 62.5 per cent to 85 per cent.
