[CTC] Trump Trade Chief Wants Nafta Deal by Mid-May

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-trade-chief-wants-nafta-deal-by-mid-may-1525207067?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2&mod=article_inline&mod=article_inline <https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-trade-chief-wants-nafta-deal-by-mid-may-1525207067?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2&mod=article_inline&mod=article_inline>
 
Trump Trade Chief Wants Nafta Deal by Mid-May
Delays now risk pushing Congressional vote into next year, when GOP could have less power
 
By William Mauldin
May 1, 2018
 
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s top trade official wants to finish a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement by the middle of the month to get a revised pact to a vote in Congress by the end of this year.
 
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told a gathering at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that he hoped to strike a deal with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts within a week or two after high-level talks resume next week.
 
He said a delay beyond that time frame risked “having a problem” in getting the new Nafta to a vote in Congress this year, he said.
 
The Trump administration is eager to get a revised Nafta to the House and Senate before January. A large number of House Republicans are set to retire at the end of the year. If the Democrats win control of the House in what is expected to be a tough election year for the GOP, they could block efforts to enact Nafta or other parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda.
 
“The new Congress will have its own priorities, and if they’re substantially different, they’re not going to be happy with whatever we do, in my opinion, because it was negotiated with a lot of input from the previous Congress,” Mr. Lighthizer said.
 
To get a new Nafta to a vote, the Trump administration is following the rules of 2015 trade legislation known as fast track, or trade promotion authority, which allows for expedited congressional consideration of trade agreements struck by the executive branch. But under the fast track process, a deal reached after mid-May has a lower chance of reaching Congress this year, according to congressional aides following the talks.
 
Many Democrats have applauded Mr. Lighthizer’s efforts to introduce new Nafta rules to boost domestic production, disadvantage foreign supply chains and weaken dispute-settlement procedures favored by international businesses. Many Republicans have been skeptical of the administration’s approach, preferring a modernization of the pact that focuses on newer technologies and intellectual-property rules.
 
Mr. Trump repeatedly has threatened to pull the U.S. out of Nafta if Canada and Mexico don’t agree to new rules that benefit U.S. workers. Some congressional aides expect Mr. Trump to use such a threat to pressure Congress to vote for his version.
 
Mexican officials are also eager to wrap up talks on Nafta before the country’s presidential election in July.
 
In Ottawa, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Tuesday that officials last week were ironing out some of the “fiendishly complicated” details involved in securing agreement on auto-industry rules.
 
“Getting that right is essential to getting a new modernized Nafta negotiation,” said Ms. Freeland, who added that “meaningful progress” had been made last week at high-level talks in Washington, with lower-level officials continuing discussions this week.
 
Mexico’s auto industry Monday rejected the latest U.S. proposal for the rules that allow cars to be traded duty-free in the bloc. A Detroit auto group said it is encouraged by the latest proposal, but a group of international auto makers based in the U.S. said it was “concerned.”
 
—Josh Zumbrun and Paul Vieira contributed to this article.
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