[CTC] Veteran U.S. Official to Lead Nafta Talks

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-nafta-talks-will-beginaug-16in-washington-1500481180 <https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-nafta-talks-will-beginaug-16in-washington-1500481180>
 
Veteran U.S. Official to Lead Nafta Talks
John Melle to serve as chief negotiator in discussions with Mexico and Canada next month
 
Freight trucks pass through customs before entering the United States from Mexico at the Otay Mesa port in San Diego on May 11.PHOTO: JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
By 
William Mauldin in Washington and
 
Paul Vieira in Ottawa
Updated July 19, 2017 4:22 p.m. ET
1 COMMENTS <https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-nafta-talks-will-beginaug-16in-washington-1500481180#livefyre-toggle-SB12441934714499704233204583278023787565006>
The Trump administration on Wednesday tapped a veteran trade official involved in the original negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement to lead new talks with Canada and Mexico on an overhaul of the agreement starting next month.

John Melle, the current assistant U.S. trade representative for the Western Hemisphere <https://ustr.gov/about-us/biographies-key-officials/john-m-melle-austr>, will serve as chief negotiator for the Nafta talks, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer announced Wednesday. The first round of negotiations is scheduled for Aug. 16-20 in Washington.
Mr. Melle is expected to lead a team that works with foreign counterparts to hash out the technical details on the revised trade agreement and look for solutions at the staff level that he can bring back to senior U.S. officials.

Trade negotiators don’t aim to push their own policy positions during talks with other countries but instead work with U.S. government agencies and elected officials to secure what officials agree is the best deal for the country.

Congress has given Mr. Lighthizer authority to take the lead on trade talks under trade law, but Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Donald Trump himself will also likely play a role.

Mr. Trump has vowed to revamp Nafta, which he has called an unfair deal. Earlier this week, the Trump administration released a road map for remaking Nafta <https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-releases-its-plans-for-remaking-nafta-1500329545> that aims to preserve “Buy America” provisions and reduce the country’s trade deficit.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Lighthizer declined to comment on the choice of Mr. Melle or make the chief negotiator available for an interview.

“Nafta has not kept pace with changing times,” Mr. Melle told a public hearing on the pact in June. “Today we find many chapters outdated and not reflective of modern standards.”

Mr. Melle started as a trade official in 1988, four years before Nafta was first signed by President George H.W. Bush, and six years before an amended version entered into force under President Bill Clinton. For years he worked with Mexico on Nafta-related issues as well as other trade disputes with Canada and Latin America, rising through the ranks to his current position in 2011.

His tenure is seen as a potential advantage in renegotiating Nafta. Trade officials, like State Department diplomats, can develop a rapport while addressing their governments’ stubborn disagreements. Officials from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. have worked together closely in recent years to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, the unratified deal that Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from in January <https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-withdraws-u-s-from-trans-pacific-partnership-1485191020>.
“Many of them have known each other since the original Nafta negotiations. Some of them have managed the treaty over the past 15 years, or worked together during the TPP talks,” said Jaime Zabludovsky, a member of the Mexican team that negotiated Nafta, who is now advising Mexican companies over its renegotiation. “Talks could advance very fast.”

Former trade officials praised Mr. Melle’s work.

“He’s a very reasonable person, and he’s also very knowledgeable,” said Carla Hills, the former U.S. trade representative who signed the original Nafta. “He was a real contributor. I give him an A-plus.”

Not everyone in Washington was pleased with the choice of an official associated closely with Nafta.

“This administration is asking a fox to guard the hen house by tapping a staunch Nafta defender to renegotiate the corporate trade deal that he helped oversee,” said Ben Beachy, director of the Sierra Club’s trade program. The environmental group says the current Nafta pact has led to increased pollution and hurt worker wages.

—Robbie Whelan and Santiago Perez in Mexico City contributed to this article.
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