2017.08.1616:17:00UTC+00MEXICO: NAFTA Members Launch First Round Of Renegotiation

Canada, Mexico and the United States on Wednesday launched the first round of renegotiation on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Washing, D.C. The countries' delegations are headed by Crystia Freeland, Canada's Foreign Minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, Mexico's Economy and Robert Lighthizer, the United States Trade Representative.

In addition to the launch of the renegotiation round, which is estimated to last until August 20, also will start the meetings on another ten topics of the dialogue agenda involving the three countries.

The Mexican government announced that it outlined a set of priorities for the NAFTA agenda, grouped into four thematic axes that are indispensable to strengthen Mexico's position in the global economy, to extend the free trade benefits and to reposition North America as one of the most competitive regions.

Meanwhile, Freeland announced that during the first renegotiation round, Canada would seek to push for stronger labor standards, to maintain the dispute settlement mechanism, and to introduce new chapters on gender equality and indigenous rights.

Finally, the White House had already announced in June a plan for renegotiation that included developing a mechanism to prevent countries from manipulating their currencies to gain trade benefits such as maintaining the rules that favor the purchase of American products. Also, the country plans to eliminate trade deficits with Mexico and Canada.