Bilateral.. Trilateral.. Quasilateral.. How many deals are gonna be placed to shore up deals with Canada and Mexico? Better question should be which industry will gain/lose in the deals – PB/TK
Trump trade officials prefer tri-lateral NAFTA deal – By Dave Lawder / May 17 2017
The Trump administration’s top trade officials hope to keep the North American Free Trade Agreement as a trilateral deal in negotiations with Canada and Mexico to revamp the 23-year-old pact, senators said on Tuesday.
Several members of the Senate Finance Committee said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and new U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told them in a closed door meeting that they would prefer the current three-nation format but left open the possibility of parallel bilateral agreements with Canada and Mexico.
“Their preference is trilateral,” Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow told reporters after the meeting.
Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa said from the meeting it sounded to him as if a trilateral deal was more likely “unless there’s problems” with that approach.
“If trilaterally you aren’t getting anyplace, I suppose then you do it bilaterally,” Grassley said.
Ross, who has floated the idea of doing two bilateral trade deals with Canada and Mexico, declined to confirm the administration’s preference for a trilateral approach.
Continue to reuters.com article: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-nafta-idUSKCN18C2IR
