[CTC] Ross Reiterates U.S. Threat to Withdraw From Nafta

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-08/ross-reiterates-u-s-threat-to-withdraw-from-nafta-amid-talks <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-08/ross-reiterates-u-s-threat-to-withdraw-from-nafta-amid-talks>
 
Ross Reiterates U.S. Threat to Withdraw From Nafta
By 
Andrew Mayeda
September 8, 2017, 10:36 AM EDT
·         Commerce secretary says Trump clear about threat to pull out

·         Ross says U.S. will need to take stock of talks by end of year
 
The Trump administration reiterated its threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement if a new deal favorable to the U.S. can’t be reached with Mexico and Canada.

“The president has made clear if they don’t work, he’s going to pull out,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross <https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/id/1414869> said Friday during an event at the Washington Post. “That shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, and really that’s the right thing. We need fixes to this deal. It has not worked the way it was intended.”
Ross’s remarks come just days after the three nations wrapped up their second round of negotiations on overhauling the 23-year-old accord, which governs more than $1.2 trillion in annual trade. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts struck an optimistic <https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-09-05/nafta-nations-convey-cooperative-tone-as-redo-talks-forge-ahead> tone after the round, highlighting that talks are moving forward, while adding that so far there have been no major breakthroughs.
President Donald Trump <https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/id/1252249> has repeatedly threatened <https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-08-31/trump-s-impatience-emerging-as-biggest-threat-to-nafta-agreement> to pull the U.S. out of the deal entirely, even as negotiators work to come up with a new agreement.
Ross said the “political calendar” will make it difficult to reach a deal beyond the end of this year. Mexico has a general election in July, while U.S. congressional midterm elections will take place in November 2018 and Canada has several provincial elections scheduled next year, he noted.

“There’s no fine line magic date, but more or less by the end of the year is probably when we’re going to need to know where we are,” he said. The next negotiating session takes place Sept. 23-27 in Ottawa.
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