US talks tough on trade deficit at NAFTA discussions

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The United States drew a hard line for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Wednesday, demanding major concessions aimed at slashing trade deficits with Mexico and Canada and boosting US content for autos.

Created 23 years ago, NAFTA includes Canada, Mexico and the United States and is being renegotiated at the behest of US President Donald Trump, who made a campaign promise to get a better deal for US workers. He has repeatedly claimed that NAFTA has caused massive US manufacturing job losses.

After reiterating Trump’s wish for more than "a mere tweaking" of the 23-year-old pact, Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative said, "We [the White House] feel that NAFTA has fundamentally failed many, many Americans and needs major improvement."

Lighthizer put Mexico and Canada on notice that the US would use its clout as their biggest export customer to wring concessions, adding that the US wanted substantially tougher rules of origin, including a requirement of "substantial US content" for autos.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland suggested that her country could walk away if the US insisted on scrapping the "Chapter 19" trade dispute settlement system, which requires the use of binational panels.

In terms of the US fixation on its trade deficits, Freeland responded that "Canada does not view trade surpluses or deficits as a primary measure of whether a trading relationship works."

Mexican negotiator Vanessa Rubio, an undersecretary at the country’s finance ministry, said the NAFTA renegotiations must include a discussion of new financial services provided by so-called fintech companies, which are rapidly gaining ground in the region.

Financial services are common ground for the three countries, according to Rubio.

"We are not yet sure what will end up in the text of the new agreement, but we are sure that we need to have a discussion about new services, above all about the fintech industry," she told Reuters.

In order to modernize the deal, the three sides are looking at how to integrate e-commerce and other technological developments into NAFTA.

(With input from Reuters, AP, AFP)