NAFTA Negotiations Update: Round 5

The 5th round of the NAFTA negotiations began in Mexico today. This round will not be attended by the lead negotiators. 

Last week during our Winter Meeting in Victoria B.C., the PNWER Delegate Council approved a resolution supporting the modernization of the NAFTA. See link. We also had a very good discussion on potential US withdrawal scenarios presented by Dan Ujczo from Dickinson Wright. This is a great overview of what could happen in the coming months and what role Congress might play. 

PNWER had a chance to make the rounds in Washington DC earlier this week and met with trade staff from 10 different congressional offices and shared the PNWER NAFTA resolution as well as specific US-Canada trade stats for each district www.thebusinesscouncil.ca/canada-us-partnership. This valuable resource is provided by the Business Council of Canada. I encourage you to share this tool with your partners. All of the congressional offices I met with stated the importance of hearing from industry on the need to modernize the NAFTA and not withdraw. 

Below are some recent articles related to the current status of the NAFTA negotiations:

Congressional Research Service: Potential Effects of a U.S. NAFTA Withdrawal: Agricultural Markets
http://www.pnwer.org/uploads/2/3/2/9/23295822/crs_nafta.pdf

72 U.S. lawmakers escalate complaints over Trump's handling of NAFTA in flurry of letters
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/us-lawmakers-escalate-complaints-about-trump-handling-of-nafta-75-write-letters

Latest round of NAFTA talks opens in Mexico, with few prospects for breakthroughs
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-nafta-20171117-story.html

Trade lawyer's advice to Canadian businesses in NAFTA talks: 'start contingency planning'
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/nafta-trade-talks-1.4378071 ​