<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="">Ross: U.S. will focus on rules of origin, currency in NAFTA renegotiation<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h3><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">By<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="vcard"><span style="text-transform: uppercase;" class=""><a href="https://www.politicopro.com/staff/megan-cassella" target="_top" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><b class=""><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">MEGAN CASSELLA</span></b></a> </span></span></span><span class="date"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">Mar 3, 2017</span></b></span><span class="time"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">8:44 AM EST</span></span><span class="vcard"><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-transform: uppercase;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">The United States will focus primarily on tightening rules of origin, aligning living standards between trading partners and smoothing currency exchanges in any talks to renegotiate NAFTA, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said this morning in an interview<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://pdl.iphone.cnbc.com/VCPS/Y2017/M03D03/3000598135/6ED2-SB-RossWellBe-030317_L.mp4" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(10, 124, 196);" class="">on CNBC.</span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Rules of origin governing what portion of a good can come from countries outside of NAFTA and still be exempt from tariffs are “far too lenient,” Ross said. “I think those could be tightened up quite a bit. One of the things the TPP did is, in some ways it did, tighten them a bit, so there’s clearly some room there.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">The second priority, he said, will be to address living standards, noting that “the theory of NAFTA had been gradual convergence of living standards between Mexico and the United States. That really hasn’t happened on the Mexican side.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">“The minimum wage for the peso has barely gone up in peso terms, and since the peso has gone down so severely in dollar terms, Mexican workers are really not at all better off than they had been some time ago.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">On currency, Ross attributed the recent drop in the peso’s value relative to the dollar to the “fear of what will happen with NAFTA,” but he added that “if we and the Mexicans make a very sensible trade agreement, that Mexican peso will recover quite a lot.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">In the deal itself, he also suggested including mechanisms to “making the peso-dollar exchange rate a bit smoother,” though he did not get more specific.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">He emphasized that reopening the pact is first on the administration’s list of trade priorities.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">“We think it makes sense to solidify your own neighborhood first,” he said.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(47, 84, 150);" class=""> </span></div></body></html>