WASHINGTON - The Trump administration appears virtually certain to miss its weekend deadline for reaching agreement with Canada on a new North American trade deal, according to U.S. officials and people close to the talks.
In recent days, officials have issued a series of increasingly pessimistic assessments of the chances of including Canada in the trade deal with Mexico, which was finalized last month.
The administration wants to notify Congress of its plans for a new North American accord by Sunday to meet a timetable permitting the current Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto to sign it on his final day in office November 30.
A downbeat U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer Tuesday said negotiators are "sort of running out of time" to include Canada in the deal.
Major disagreements remain over Canada's dairy management program, a dispute resolution process and the fate of U.S. tariffs on metals imports from Canada.
If the remaining gaps cannot be bridged in the next few days, the administration will request congressional approval of a deal with Mexico only, Lighthizer said in New York at the Concordia summit, an annual conference on policy issues.
"There's still a fair amount of distance between us. There are very large issues," Lighthizer said, playing down chances of a deal with Canada.
The chief U.S. trade negotiator is scheduled to meet with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. But there is little chance of a last-minute deal, according to a senior administration official, who asked for anonymity to discuss confidential talks.
President Donald Trump has long been a vocal critic of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, blaming it for the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs and the closure of thousands of factories.
Negotiations aimed at a new agreement have been underway for 13 months, but Canada and the U.S. remain at loggerheads. “There’s a whole series of issues,” said Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy, who has been briefed on the talks.