Thorny Third Round of NAFTA Talks Begins on Saturday

Trade negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will delve into tricky issues when they convene in Ottawa, Canada on Saturday for a third round of talks about updating the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.

The first two rounds focused on relatively minor updates to language that describes NAFTA’s goals regarding such issues as competitiveness, the environment and services, Reuters notes.

The news service says this weekend’s agenda will dive into the contentious issues that prompted President Donald Trump to force the countries into a review of the pact: local content requirements, jobs and methods for resolving trade disputes.

The Trump administration wants to tighten content requirements to control the proportion of vehicle parts made outside the NAFTA region from ending up in vehicles that enjoy NAFTA’s duty-free status.

Trump also wants more power to push carmakers to repatriate jobs from Mexico to the U.S. And he aims to abolish Chapter 19, a NAFTA arbitration mechanism that has mostly blocked the U.S. from pursuing anti-dumping charges against companies in Canada and Mexico.

Four more negotiating sessions are yet to come before year-end, when the countries hope to conclude the talks with a new version of the agreement.