NAFTA Talks Progress

Canada and Mexico said good progress had been made in talks with the United States to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement and that ministers would meet again on Tuesday as they push to wrap up a deal, Reuters reported. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo struck a positive note after a second day of meetings with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer to revamp the 24-year-old accord, which underpins some $1.2 trillion in annual trilateral trade. “We are certainly in a more intense period of the negotiations and we are making good progress,” Freeland told reporters, saying that officials would stay in Washington over the weekend as the eight-month-old talks continue. Guajardo, who has often sought to temper optimism for a quick deal, said the ministers would meet again on Tuesday. The three ministers are pressing for a quick deal to avoid clashing with a July 1 presidential election in Mexico, which would mean overcoming major differences on several US demands.