The three-country negotiations for the new NAFTA have looked bilateral for a few weeks, because the United States has been meeting with Mexico. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canada expects to return to the talks very soon.
Dairy and poultry are high-voltage disputes for U.S.-Canada trade. The White House has proposed a phase-out of Canada’s supply management system for diary and poultry in order to open the market to U.S. farm exports. The proposal is a nonstarter in Canada. U.S. farm groups, consumed by the trade war with China, have said little about NAFTA recently. They would like to see larger exports. At a minimum, the new NAFTA must maintain duty-free access to Mexico and Canada, which account for one-third of U.S. food and agriculture trade, they say.
There are moments when bilateral negotiations make sense “and that’s certainly what Mexico and the United States are engaged in right now on a couple of very specific topics that are more germane to that particular relationship,” Trudeau said during an appearance in Ottawa, reported iPolitics. “But we look forward to re-engaging at the NAFTA negotiating table very shortly.”
Five sources in Mexico told Bloomberg that the United States has dropped its proposal for a system of restrictions on fruit and vegetable imports based on seasonal shipments. However, two of the sources said the two countries might agree to narrower restrictions on tomatoes.
Florida fruit and vegetable growers, who market crops in the winter and spring, advocated the creation of seasonal controls of produce imports, rather than the system now used, which looks at annual figures. The Floridians said current system exposed them to price-killing spikes of Mexican imports. Growers from the western United States were skeptical of the idea and said it could be turned against them when they want to ship into Mexico.
The action on Mexican produce came at the same time as negotiators made progress on rules for automakers. There is an informal goal of completing negotiations by the end of this month so the deal can be signed before the new administration takes office in Mexico on Dec. 1.