US, Mexico reach preliminary deal on NAFTA, Canada awaits

The United States and Mexico are expected on Monday to announce that they have reached a preliminary deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

{mosads}U.S. and Mexican trade negotiators worked through the weekend and were meeting again on Monday morning at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to complete the deal on key provisions of the agreement.

The next step is bringing Canada back into the talks to complete the modernization of the 24-year-old three-nation pact.

President Trump has called NAFTA “the worst trade deal ever made” and said he would fix it so the United States would get the bulk of the benefits.

On Monday he was reveling in the prospects that a new deal could be nearing completion after more than a year of negotiations. 

“A big deal looking good with Mexico!” Trump tweeted on Monday.

A big deal looking good with Mexico!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2018

The official White House twitter said the president would make an announcement on trade at 11 a.m.

The President will make an announcement regarding trade at 11 AM from the Oval Office.

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 27, 2018

Brian Kuehl, executive director of Farmers for Free Trade, said that “while any news of progress on restoring NAFTA certainty is reassuring for American farmers, there are questions that remain on the nature of a final deal.”

The group said that farmers will judge any new NAFTA deal on whether it provides new market access for U.S. agriculture exports and whether it will erode the gains made from the original NAFTA.

“On those points, it will be necessary for Canada to rejoin the negotiations and for an agreement to be reached among all parties before a judgment can be made,” Kuehl said.

“American farmers know better than most that a deal isn’t done until the ink is dry and all parties have agreed.”

–Updated at 10:35 a.m.