WASHINGTON—NAFTA negotiations will probably start late this year, might take about a year, and will include serious changes that could see the addition of several entire new chapters to the landmark agreement.
That’s according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, tasked by President Donald Trump to assist negotiations. And while the president suggests he simply wants minor tweaks in the arrangement with Canada, his point man foresees substantive changes.
“The Mexicans know, the Canadians know, everybody knows, times are different. We are going to have new trade relations with people,” Ross told a Bloomberg broadcast interview on March 8.
“And they all know they’re going to have to make concessions. The only question is what’s the magnitude and what’s the form of the concessions.”
Ross credited the president for preparing other countries to make concessions: “He’s made my job easier by softening up the adverse parties. What could be better than going into a trade negotiation where the fellow on the other side knows he has to make concessions?”
In the interview, Ross revealed multiple aspects of his thinking on the upcoming renegotiations of the seminal 1993 agreement with Canada and Mexico.
He answered two lingering questions:
Will the United States seek only minor administrative changes or more substantive ones that would require consultations with the U.S. Congress under the rules of so-called fast-track legislation and then a vote in Congress? Ross said he intends to involve Congress.
