The state of NAFTA talks as 2017 draws to a close
North Korea might have been the top item on Rex Tillerson's agenda when he came to Ottawa this week, but the U.S. Secretary of State didn't leave town before hearing first about the ongoing NAFTA negotiations.
"We are, of course, continuing to point out to our American counterparts that that relationship is very, very important and that each side has something to lose if we don't find an agreement," the chair of the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, Transport Minister Marc Garneau, told The House.
The sixth round of negotiations is set to take place in January in Montreal.
Clear divisions emerged during the latter rounds, but Garneau argued that tensions are to be expected at this stage.
"When you're going to have negotiations between two countries on a trade relationship there's always going to be positions taken. After the niceties of the initial rounds you get down to the real work of focusing on the things that are particularly important to you," he said.
"Canada will not move on certain things, and we'll see what happens, and in the end it has to be a trade deal that is good for both countries."
America's NAFTA red lines may be a negotiation tactic
Some of the more contentious proposals put forward by American negotiators during the ongoing NAFTA talks may be a negotiating tactic, suggests Republican congressman Kevin Cramer, an early Donald Trump supporter.
Canadian officials have been open in calling the U.S. push to change the rules of origin — which could be detrimental to the Canadian auto industry — and demands for a five-year sunset clause in the deal sticking points. Some US business groups called them "poison pills."
"There are some areas where some extreme proposals have been put forward, and these are proposals that we simply cannot agree to," Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said following the fifth round of negotiations in Mexico City.
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"He really is sometimes more flexible than it appears," Cramer told The House.
The Congressman from North Dakota knows Donald Trump well, and was at one point rumoured to be his pick for energy secretary.
"When he does lay down bright lines, he generally doesn't cross them until he absolutely has to," he said, adding that Trump clearly wants a better deal, but that doesn't mean he won't compromise.
The key, Cramer added will be if the business community gets its message through to the president.
"The real influencers can be those manufacturers and those businesses," he said.
With 2018 around the corner, mid-term elections fast approaching in the U.S., Cramer remains optimistic that the new year will be a new deal.
"I guess I do expect a deal before then (mid-terms)," he said.