The United States and Canada have reached an agreement on a framework North American Free Trade Agreement deal, Reuters reported Sunday evening, citing a Canadian source.
Following that report from the wire service, the Canadian dollar strengthened to a four-month high against the U.S. dollar, Reuters said.
The new agreement framework involves offering more dairy access to U.S. farmers, as well as Canada agreeing to a side-letter arrangement effectively capping automobile exports to the United States, the Reuters source said.
Multiple sources told CNBC on Sunday that Canada was set to sign onto an agreement, and Dow Jones reported that an announcement was "imminent:"
That followed the news that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called for a late-night Sunday meeting with his Cabinet as the two countries had reportedly made substantial progress in free trade talks.
Negotiators were racing to meet a U.S.-imposed Sept. 30 deadline to reach an agreement with Canada as they tried to roll out a new North American trade pact.
Canada, America's second-largest trading partner, was left out when the U.S. and Mexico reached a preliminary deal in late August to revamp NAFTA. Canada was expected to join the talks after that, and the two sides have sparred over dairy products.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he was prepared to move ahead with just Mexico, but some in Congress, which has to approve a deal, were against leaving Canada behind.
Trudeau had earlier told reporters in New York during U.N. week that they will keep working on a "broad range of alternatives."
—Reuters contributed to this report.
from Top News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2y5rDyy
No comments:
Post a Comment