Nafta Talks Making Progress

The US is now making “absolutely amazing’’ progress toward renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a deal could come as early as this fall, according to White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman, Kevin Hassett, Bloomberg reported. “My guess is that we will see something by the fall,’’ Hassett said in an interview that aired Saturday on Fox News. While cautioning that he was “not a negotiator’’ involved in the talks between the US, Mexico and Canada, Hassett said his colleagues who are renegotiating the deal have indicated things are going well. Hassett’s upbeat comment echoed one by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who said on July 26 in congressional testimony that it’s possible Nafta partners will reach a tentative agreement in August to revamp the pact. Mexico’s incoming president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he wants to keep the trilateral structure of Nafta in place. The current Mexican administration, Canada as well as the US Congress have said they support the final agreement having a trilateral structure. Lopez Obrador in a letter sent to Trump earlier this month also urged for Nafta to remain a three-way deal.