Canada, U.S. Resume NAFTA Talks Today

Top trade envoys from the U.S. and Canada are scheduled to resume high-level talks today in Washington, D.C., in a renewed effort to reach agreement on a deal to update their trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement.

The U.S. and Mexico reached a tentative accord last month. But separate negotiations to include Canada stalled eight days ago over at least two issues: granting the U.S. easier access to Canada’s highly protected dairy industry and meeting Canada’s demand to retain a mechanism to resolve trade disputes within NAFTA.

Canada reportedly considers Sept. 20 the deadline to reach a high-level accord that could be expanded into a detailed agreement in time for Congress to approve the pact by year-end.

But Canada repeatedly cautions that it would rather have no deal than a bad deal. Sources tell Bloomberg News that Canadian negotiators have no qualms about allowing this week’s deadline to pass without an agreement.

Congress has signaled that its patience with Canada is ebbing. But many experts say a bilateral deal has little chance of being accepted.