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No NAFTA Update Likely Until Mid-2018?

An updated version of the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement isn’t likely until about July 2018, according to Thomas Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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An updated version of the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement isn’t likely until about July 2018, Thomas Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, tells Reuters.

President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon NAFTA unless negotiators can fix what he says are inequities that hurt U.S. jobs and unfavorably skew the country’s trade balances with Canada and Mexico.

But his administration has not yet begun the process by giving Congress the required 90-day notice of its intent to fast-track new talks.That means negotiations won’t begin until August.

Still, Donahue tells Reuters that both the U.S. business community and Trump are determined to find a solution quickly. He says Trump has backed off on the idea of slapping a 35% import tariff on goods from Mexico and is increasingly focused on a deal that will accelerate rather than damage trade.

“We need to move forward on this deal,” Donahue declares. “It is critical to our economic and geopolitical well-being, period.”

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