United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday released a summary of the negotiating objectives for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation

In a statement, Lighthizer said the Trump Administration would seek an agreement  that reduces the U.S. trade deficit and improves market access in Canada and Mexico for U.S. manufacturing, agriculture and services.USTR has included deficit reduction as a specific objective for the NAFTA negotiations, noting that since NAFTA was implemented in 1994, the U.S. bilateral goods trade balance with Mexico has gone from a $1.3 billion surplus to a $64 billion deficit in 2016. Market access issues have arisen in Canada with respect to dairy, wine, grain and other products — barriers that the current agreement is unequipped to address.The negotiating objectives also include adding a digital economy chapter and incorporating and strengthening labor and environment obligations that are currently in NAFTA side agreements. Additionally, among other objectives, the Administration will work to eliminate unfair subsidies, market-distorting practices by state owned enterprises, and burdensome restrictions on intellectual property.Agricultural goodsSpecific to agricultural trade, USTR outlined the following objectives:Maintain existing reciprocal duty-free market access for agricultural goods.Expand competitive market opportunities for U.S. agricultural goods in NAFTA countries substantially equivalent to the competitive opportunities afforded foreign exports into the U.S. market, by reducing or eliminating remaining tariffs.Seek to eliminate non-tariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports including discriminatory barriers, restrictive administration of tariff rate quotas, other unjustified measures that unfairly limit access to markets for U.S. goods, such as cross subsidization, price discrimination, and price undercutting.Provide reasonable adjustment periods for U.S. import-sensitive agricultural products, engaging in close consultation with Congress on such products before initiating tariff reduction negotiations.Promote greater regulatory compatibility to reduce burdens associated with unnecessary differences in regulation, including through regulatory cooperation where appropriate.Sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS)Provide for enforceable SPS obligations that build upon WTO rights and obligations, including with respect to science-based measures, good regulatory practice, import checks, equivalence and regionalization, making clear that each country can set for itself the level of protection it believes to be appropriate to protect food safety, and plant and animal health in a manner consistent with its international obligations.Establish a mechanism to resolve expeditiously unwarranted barriers that block the export of U.S. food and agricultural products.Establish new and enforceable rules to ensure that science-based SPS measures are developed and implemented in a transparent, predictable and non-discriminatory manner.Improve communication, consultation and cooperation between governments to share information and work together on SPS issues in a transparent manner, including on new technologies.Provide for a mechanism for improved dialogue and cooperation to address SPS issues and facilitate trade where appropriate and possible.A more detailed text of USTR’s negotiating objectives is available, including those related to customs, rules of origin, technical barriers, regulatory practices, transparency, competition, labor, environmental, trade remedies and dispute settlement, among others.