Ottawa/Montreal | Reuters — With his political future at stake, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will mount a charm offensive to placate dairy farmers who say he sold them out in order to win approval of a continental trade deal. Compounding Trudeau’s challenges in the influential province of Quebec, where many dairy farmers are based, […] Read more

Trudeau takes Quebec dairy gamble to preserve big trade deal

Canada, U.S. deal saves NAFTA as trilateral pact
Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada forged a last-gasp deal on Sunday to salvage NAFTA as a trilateral pact with Mexico, rescuing a three-country, US$1.2 trillion open-trade zone that had been about to collapse after nearly a quarter century. In a big victory for his agenda to shake up an era of global […] Read more

Canada, U.S. reach deal to update NAFTA, sources say
Ottawa/Washington | Reuters — The U.S. and Canada reached a deal to update NAFTA and keep it a trilateral pact with Mexico, beating a midnight deadline with agreements to boost U.S. access to Canada’s dairy market and protect Canada from possible U.S. autos tariffs, two Canadian sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on […] Read more

Mexican president-elect insists on trilateral NAFTA
Washington/Mexico City | Reuters — The United States and Mexico are due to release the text of their trade agreement on Friday, increasing pressure on Canada to join its partners in revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement while Mexico’s president-elect said he would insist on a trilateral pact. President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said […] Read more

Canada sticks to plan to stay at NAFTA talks despite Trump attack
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada on Thursday shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism that talks to modernize NAFTA were moving too slowly and made clear it had to keep negotiating as long as there was a chance of success. The prospects for a quick deal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement appeared […] Read more

Trump slams Canada over NAFTA, says rejected Trudeau meeting
United Nations | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted Canada over the slow pace of talks over NAFTA, saying he was so unhappy that he had rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request for a one-on-one meeting. The remarks by Trump, who repeated a threat to impose tariffs on Canadian autos, knocked […] Read more

Canada not making concessions needed for NAFTA deal, says U.S.
New York | Reuters — Canada is not making concessions needed to reach a deal with the U.S. for a trilateral NAFTA pact and is running out of time before Washington proceeds with a Mexico-only agreement, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday. The administration of President Donald Trump has recently begun increasing the pressure […] Read more

Informal NAFTA talks seen likely in next few days at U.N.
Montreal | Reuters — U.S. and Canadian officials trying to reach a deal on NAFTA are “very likely” to hold informal talks on the sidelines of a major U.N. meeting in the next few days, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday. With time running out ahead of a U.S.-imposed deadline of the end […] Read more

Trudeau urges some U.S. flexibility in NAFTA talks
Washington/Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday he wanted to see flexibility from the U.S. if the two sides are to reach a deal on renewing NAFTA, which Washington insists must be finished by the end of the month. Ottawa is pushing back against increasing pressure by the administration of […] Read more

Ag trade flows may change amid trade dispute, Bayer says
Monheim | Reuters — Bayer said on Tuesday it would be difficult to predict 2019 earnings at its agriculture business, which now includes Monsanto, because a U.S.-Chinese trade dispute could reroute global trade flows in farming commodities. The head of Bayer’s crop science division told Reuters his company could even benefit if U.S. farmers switched […] Read more