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Canada’s Future in New NAFTA Deal to Be Clear Within 48 Hours – Mexican Minister

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – It will be clear within 48 hours if Canada will remain a side to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is being reworked by Ottawa, Mexico City and Washington, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said.
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While the new NAFTA deal is expected to be revealed in the coming days, Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had asked him to call on the US authorities to reach the Canadian-US agreement as part of the deadlocked NAFTA talks between them. Lopez Obrador added he had agreed to do that and insisted that the deal should be trilateral.

"In the coming 48 hours, we will learn if we go ahead with the text of the trilateral agreement or it would be necessary to introduce the text on the bilateral understanding [between Mexico and the United States] and to determine the legal actions required to ensure the possibility of switching to the trilateral framework after it," Guajardo told Mexican lawmakers on Friday.

Mexico's President-Elect Not Ruling Out Trade Deal With Canada Instead of NAFTA
US President Donald Trump has been seeking to renegotiate the United States’ trade agreements with other countries, including the NAFTA deal, since his election campaign in 2016.

For over a year, Canada, Mexico and the United States have been engaged in talks to modernize their trade deal. In August, Trump said that the United States and Mexico had reached an agreement in their NAFTA talks.

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