[CTC] Freeland to stay in D.C. 'as long as it takes' for NAFTA deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

POLITICO
 
Freeland to stay in D.C. 'as long as it takes' for NAFTA deal
 
By Sabrina Rodriguez 
04/26/2018 05:51 PM EDT

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said her decision to skip a NATO meeting <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=229d77cda09a12b6c563f9a2caaa70aa7edecadac87d79ef776c999d9f0a5b4c233a56aa8c22b636d0a45df68a6d033a> in Brussels underscores her commitment to sealing a renegotiated NAFTA deal, she said today.

Missing the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting "is a measure of how seriously Canada takes these negotiations, how important they are, and also, the intensity with which we are working now," Freeland said this afternoon when entering bilateral talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. 

She will stay in Washington, D.C., "as long as it takes," she added. 

Bilateral talks among Lighthizer, Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo have been going on since Tuesday. No trilateral meeting has been held so far.

Guajardo also underscored <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=229d77cda09a12b6cb1ad14ab28ddcff55b4ad75fc67996d6f12a5f216f5c0e8fa412c6c5d99a6273fcb9f9105c5eb41> today that he'll stay as long as it takes "if we can keep on advancing."

NAFTA talks entered an intense phase this past month, with technical talks going on almost daily and ministers in frequent communication. Recent minister-level meetings have been largely focused on automotive rules of origin, which Freeland has called a "core issue of this negotiation."

"The good news this week is all three countries are really getting down to a very detailed conversation," she said outside the Winder Building, which houses USTR.

Freeland pushed back when asked if chances of a deal were slipping away with a deadlock on auto rules of origin and ministers not talking about a range of other thorny issues, like government procurement or dairy.

"I would very much disagree with the characterization of the autos conversation as being logjammed," she said. "Quite the contrary. This is a week when very good significant progress is being made on rules of origin for the cars sector."
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