Lighthizer reiterated Donald Trump’s familiar talking point that “Nafta has fundamentally failed many, many Americans, and needs major improvement,” starting with addressing US trade deficits.

By contrast, in their opening remarks, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Chrystia Freeland, and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo, struck a collegial note, highlighting the benefits of Nafta to all three countries, and the importance of modernizing the agreement.

Though these divergent views on the priorities for renegotiation do not bode well for a quick deal, there are many points on which Canada, Mexico and the United States could agree on.

International trade barriers have also undergone a transformation in the years since Nafta took effect. A 2016 study by the National Board of Trade in Sweden found that non-tariff barriers are increasingly used as a tool of protectionism. Addressing some of these barriers through regulatory cooperation efforts would be extremely valuable.

If the United States, Canada, and Mexico use these negotiations to improve and modernise Nafta, they can enhance North American competitiveness, set a template for modern trade agreements, and perhaps, restore the lost momentum for trade liberalisation in the rest of the world.

Read the source article at Cato Institute