[CTC] Guajardo to stay in Washington until Canada rejoins NAFTA talks

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Guajardo to stay in Washington until Canada rejoins NAFTA talks

By Sabrina Rodriguez, PolitcoPro
08/23/2018 04:09 PM EDT

Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo said Thursday that he will remain in Washington, D.C., until Canada rejoins high-level talks to renegotiate NAFTA.

"If this advances, it's going to turn into a trilateral. And so, what am I preparing for with my team? I'm preparing to send all my shirts to the dry cleaners," Guajardo said as he entered a meeting with Mexican private sector representatives.

Guajardo spoke with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland before his trip to Washington earlier this week, he said. Canada's negotiating team has not been present for talks in recent weeks, but Guajardo has repeatedly said the goal remains for Canada to return to the fold once the U.S. and Mexico have resolved their bilateral issues.

Guajardo wouldn't shed light on the state of play for the talks between the U.S. and Mexico, but cautioned that he was not meeting with private sector representatives to announce that a breakthrough had been reached. The White House had previously marked out time on Thursday for an announcement, expecting that an agreement with Mexico was within reach, sources told <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d5af07702afb1ddd195f0204021f8efca77ee900fce8120a13c725050f724ed2490bb6fe8f0f0d4229f41feed8dfc66d> POLITICO earlier this week.

"We work permanently with our private sector. It's not that we're here to say: 'Oh, we have closure. No," Guajardo said. 

"This is reaching the end. It's very difficult [to get into details], because as I've said, until we've closed everything, we're not there yet," he added. 

Optimism has been running high in Mexico City and Washington that the two countries would be able to announce a two-way agreement on bilateral issues before the weekend. A Mexican private sector source told POLITICO that the U.S.-Mexico talks were "in the final stages."

"We're here to close this and make sure it all works for us," the source said.

Guajardo planned to continue meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer this afternoon.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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