
<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=""><div class=""><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mexicos-economy-minister-downplays-chances-of-nafta-deal-thursday-1535033545" class="">https://www.wsj.com/articles/mexicos-economy-minister-downplays-chances-of-nafta-deal-thursday-1535033545</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h1 class="wsj-article-headline" itemprop="headline" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 40px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Escrow Condensed'; line-height: 1em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Mexico’s Economy Minister Downplays Chances of Nafta Deal Thursday </h1><h2 class="sub-head" itemprop="description" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 300; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Retina; line-height: 27px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); letter-spacing: -0.013em;">‘Better to have a good agreement than a fast agreement,’ Guajardo says</h2><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="clearfix byline-wrap" style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="byline" style="margin: 0px 150px 2px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; position: relative;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 22px;" class="">By</span> <div class="scrim-loaded author mobile-scrim hasMenu" data-scrim="{"type":"author","header":"Josh Zumbrun","subhead":"The Wall Street Journal","list":[{"type":"link","icon":"bio","url":"https://www.wsj.com/news/author/7972","text":"Biography"},{"type":"link","icon":"twitter","url":"http://twitter.com/JoshZumbrun","text":"@JoshZumbrun"},{"type":"link","icon":"email","url":"mailto:josh.zumbrun@wsj.com","text":"josh.zumbrun@wsj.com"}]}" itemscope="" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; line-height: 22px; position: relative;"><span class="name" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 128, 195);">Josh Zumbrun</span></div></div><time class="timestamp" style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Retina; display: block; line-height: 2.2rem; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Aug. 23, 2018 10:12 a.m. ET</time></div><div id="share-target" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""></div><div class="article-content " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;" class="">WASHINGTON—Mexico’s economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo downplayed the chances of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mexican-official-u-s-mexico-near-accord-on-nafta-sticking-points-1534956341?mod=article_inline" class="icon none" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-size: 30px; color: rgb(0, 128, 195); text-decoration: none; outline: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Mexico and the U.S. reaching a preliminary </a>trade deal Thursday, saying that it’s “better to have a good agreement than a fast agreement.”</p><div class="paywall" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;" class="">Mr. Guajardo spoke to reporters before heading into talks with the U.S. Trade Representative’s office over bilateral issues between the U.S. and Mexico, as part of ongoing negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;" class="">U.S. and Mexican officials had hoped to have a deal as soon as Thursday but the two sides have yet to work out final details on rules <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-auto-tariff-timetable-likely-to-slip-amid-europe-nafta-talks-1534853144?mod=article_inline" class="icon none" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-size: 30px; color: rgb(0, 128, 195); text-decoration: none; outline: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">governing the automobile trade in Nafta</a>. Mr. Guajardo Thursday declined to address the remaining sticking points in the negotiations.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;" class="">He said that the objective of the negotiators was still to “do our best to complete the agreement as soon as possible.” </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;" class="">Asked if he still hoped to complete the negotiations in August, he said that doing so would be an “efficient timeline,” without elaborating. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Exchange; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;" class=""><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Write to </span>Josh Zumbrun at <a href="mailto:Josh.Zumbrun@wsj.com" target="_blank" class=" icon" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-size: 30px; color: rgb(0, 128, 195); text-decoration: none; outline: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Josh.Zumbrun@wsj.com</a></p></div></div></div><br class=""><div class="">

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">

</div>

<br class=""></body></html>