Commerce's Ross Sounds Warning On NAFTA 2.0 Talks

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday that NAFTA negotiators need more progress soon or they may not get a NAFTA deal. Ross raised the possibility talks may not finish until the end of the year, or possibly ever.“If we don’t see progress soon, we probably won’t see it for quite a little while, the end of the year, if it all,” Ross said during a speech at the Council of the Americas’ annual conference. “But regardless of the outcome of NAFTA, the United States will always be fully engaged with all of the countries of our hemisphere.”Ross said the administration was “somewhat encouraged” by how the negotiations are going, but “in a few weeks the calendar will start working against us,” referring to upcoming Canadian provincial elections, the Mexican presidential election in July, and the US midterms in November, all of which will make it too difficult to negotiate, he said.Meanwhile, USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney told the same group that it was not unusual for the toughest issues to be left until the end of trade negotiations, but expressed hope talks would close soon.