There is much talk these days about polarization. Agriculture is no exception. Whether it be on production methods, product branding, breed preference, or “Beyond” meats, the list goes on. We seem to get entrenched in our position and have difficulty seeing another’s viewpoint.

Concepts used in major negotiations apply to both small and large conflicts. An expert in this area is negotiation expert William Ury. He co-founded the Harvard Program on Negotiation and is well known for his book Getting to Yes. He has been involved in many high-level negotiations over the years, such as the Cold War, the Middle East conflict and the Columbian civil war. 

Ury’s principles and examples are not just for high-level major negotiations. Many of the points can be applied in our daily lives, particularly in our family businesses.

He states that any method of negotiation may be fairly judged by three criteria. It should produce a wise agreement if agreement is possible. It should be efficient. It should improve, or at least not damage, the relationship between the parties.

There are four principles of effective negotiation:
• Separating people from the problem.
• Focusing on interests rather than positions.
• Generating a variety of options before settling on an agreement.
• Insisting that the agreement be based on objective criteria.

Identifying underlying interests will help uncover commonalities related to the basic human needs of security, economic well-being, a sense of belonging, recognition and control over one’s life. 

Ury cites a story of two people quarrelling in a library. One wants the window open and the other wants it closed. They argue back and forth but cannot come up with an agreeable solution. The librarian comes in and asks each why they want it open or closed. One answers to get fresh air and the other to avoid the draft. She comes up with a solution to open the window in the next room, providing fresh air and not creating a draft. The librarian was able to consider the interests of both and come up with another option altogether.

There is widespread concern currently for the environment. But divisions occur when considering how to best take care of it. As agriculture producers, we feel the responsibility of stewarding the land to the best of our ability, with a close connection to it. Others are critical of our approaches. Information may be part of the solution. Sharing stories and practices on social media can invite sharing of knowledge and forming relationships. Of course, this same tool can also be used destructively, and we should be mindful of that.

A useful tool for generating options is brainstorming. Anyone who has been in my workshops or holistic management courses may have experienced this approach. Often, we use it to generate ideas for creating income or cutting expenses. But it can be used for just about any question you can come up with.

There are some basic guidelines. Firstly, we are trying to generate as many ideas as possible. There is no judging, evaluating or criticizing. That comes later. We want to tap into creativity and piggyback on others’ ideas. Have a warm-up session to get the ideas flowing. It can be helpful to have it as a competitive, timed event. Participants are often surprised at how many ideas a group can come up with.
Along with brainstorming, Ury outlines steps for inventing options. 

• Step 1: Problem. What’s wrong? What are the current symptoms? What are disliked facts, contrasted with a preferred situation?
• Step 2: Analysis. Diagnose the problem. Sort symptoms into categories. Suggest causes. Observe what is lacking. Note barriers to resolving the problem.
• Step 3: Approaches. What are possible strategies or prescriptions? What are some theoretical cures? Generate broad ideas about what might be done.
• Step 4: Action ideas. What specific steps might be taken to deal with the problem?

When humans are involved, so are emotions. People need to see themselves as working together to solve the problem, not against each other. For this reason, Ury suggests people sit in a semi-circle facing a whiteboard or flipchart and not on opposite sides of the table. 

He also believes that anger is essential, but how it is deployed is the key. “Anger is fuel, and it can be used constructively or destructively,” he says. Another guideline Ury suggests is that only one participant is allowed to be angry at a time. It is alright for people to diffuse their anger following certain guidelines. 

In a crisis, there can be breakdowns or breakthroughs. It is often little things that shift the outcome one way or another. Many times, it begins with us. Can we shift the way we look at the world?

Three overarching steps Ury recommends are going to the balcony, building a bridge and considering the third side. Firstly, going to the balcony and trying to get a high-level view of the situation; get a perspective and ground ourselves. Then working to form a bridge between the two parties. Lastly, defining the third side, coming together as a whole. 

Another important concept of Ury’s is to develop the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. This involves inventing a list of actions you might conceivably take if no agreement is reached, improving some of the more promising ideas and converting them into practical alternatives. Then, selecting the one alternative that seems the best.

He states that “The most any method of negotiation can do is to meet two objectives. First, to protect you against making an agreement you should reject, and second, to help you make the most of the assets you do have so that any agreement you reach will satisfy your interests as well as possible.”.

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Earlier this month, the world’s largest farm equipment maker and the UAW union reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation on wages and other benefits, but 90 per cent of the union’s workers voted against the deal.

The tentative deal covered about 10,000 production and maintenance employees across 14 facilities in the United States.

“Pickets have been set up, and our members are organized and ready to hold out and fight for a contract they believe meets their needs,” Ron McInroy, director of UAW Region 4, said on Thursday.

Separately, Deere said it remained committed to reaching a new agreement, adding that it had not yet estimated when it would complete negotiations.

The now-rejected offer would have given five per cent wage hikes for some workers and six per cent for some others. The proposed deal had also called for three per cent raises in 2023 and 2025.

The workers understand that they had to make concessions on some benefits in the past and now they want to get some of it back at a time when Deere is doing “very well financially” and labour shortages persist industry-wide, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters.

Deere, which has about 27,500 employees in the U.S. and Canada, had earlier said its operations would continue as normal.

The strike is set to take place in the middle of the U.S. corn and soybean harvest season, at a time when farmers are struggling to find parts for tractors and combines.

The last strike against Deere by the UAW was in 1986 when workers sat out for 163 days.

The company, due to report full-year results late November, has forecast a record net income of US$5.7 billion-$5.9 billion.

— Reporting for Reuters by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bangalore; additional reporting by Shubham Kalia.

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The Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction-CSN — which represents over 1,000 striking workers at Olymel’s plant Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec City — said in a release Friday it regretted that negotiations with the company would not resume before the week of July 19.

That’s because the company “has no availabilities” before that time, the union said.

In the same release, Syndicat president Martin Maurice said the union had been willing to enter an agreement in principle with Olymel during meetings held Thursday and Friday, and had made a counter-proposal during Thursday’s meeting.

But the company instead returned to the table Friday seeking more concessions on the issue of vacation time, he said, adding it’s evident the company doesn’t really want to settle and that its strategy is to “divide and starve us.”

The strike in recent weeks saw farmer organizations including the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) and Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec (EPQ) join calls for a quick resolution, given not only the costs to hog producers but all that’s been done so far to prevent ruptures in food supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UPA, in a release June 10, said it wasn’t picking sides in the labour dispute, but noted consolidation and concentration in the meat processing sector have left the supply chain vulnerable to strikes and lockouts alike. Some minimum level of work should continue to prevent waste and market disruption, the general farm organization said.

Olymel, in a separate release June 10, said it’s “sensitive to the concerns” of the EPQ, but emphasized the Synidcat was responsible for calling a strike and for seeking wage increases that “would have put this plant out of step with its competitors and jeopardized its viability.”

The company, an arm of Quebec co-operative Sollio, also warned UPA and EPQ at the time that any “untimely intervention by third parties” in conciliation with the union “could be detrimental to its progress and to the prospect of a quick resolution.”

When the strike began April 28, Olymel said it had “redirected” purchased hogs in Ontario and Quebec to other slaughter plants — particularly in the U.S. and Ontario, so as to free up space in its Quebec plants to handle hogs meant for Vallee-Jonction.

Olymel’s four other Quebec hog slaughter plants, meanwhile, “are operating at maximum capacity despite labour constraints and applying strict sanitary measures,” the company said June 10.

The company also granted June 10 that the strike “is putting upward pressure on the number of hogs ready for slaughter, which has now reached 90,000,” but is “exploring all options that could help reduce the number of hogs waiting for slaughter and avoid euthanasia at the farm.”

The Vallee-Jonction plant, in business since 1965, today has capacity to slaughter about 35,000 hogs per week. The plant in 2016 added a ham deboning line that was expected to bring its total workforce to about 1,200.

According to Olymel, the plant produces boned products, pork cuts and fresh chilled pork, mostly for export markets, mainly Japan, the U.S. and Mexico. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng and her Indonesian counterpart Muhammad Lutfi on Sunday declared the launch of negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

In a statement, they said they’ve “instructed officials to hold the first round of negotiations at the earliest opportunity,” expected in late 2021.

Canadians “expressed a high level of support for a possible Canada-Indonesia CEPA” during public consultations earlier this year, the government said in a release.

About 78 per cent of respondents to those consultations, launched in January, were deemed supportive of a free trade agreement.

Of those, about a third came from the agriculture and agri-food sectors, listing market access, dealing with technical trade barriers, investment and sanitary and phytosanitary measures as priorities. Environment, inclusive trade and labour issues ranked lower.

Meat exporters want challenges of entering the Indonesian market addressed. Particularly, they mentioned challenges from importing products with Halal certification, and issues stemming from how Canada’s meat inspection system meshes with packaging or labelling requirements in Indonesia.

Supply-managed sectors expressed support for a deal, so long as the federal Liberals uphold a commitment to not provide any more market-access to supply managed goods.

Across the board, there is broad support for Canada to pursue a bilateral deal with Indonesia at the same time it seeks a broader pact with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is headquartered in Indonesia.

Canada and the ASEAN group held two rounds of exploratory talks, in 2018 and 2019, toward a possible trade pact. Four ASEAN nations — Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei — are already parties to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pact with Canada.

“References were made to the fact that pursuing a trade agreement with Indonesia would complement Canada’s other trade policy priorities, such as Canada’s overall trade diversification strategy, expansion of the (CPTPP) through accessions, and deepening commercial ties with the fast-growing Indo-Pacific region,” a consultation report from Global Affairs Canada said.

Indonesia has expressed a desire to negotiate a broader deal in parallel with a bilateral one.

“We see the benefit of both (deals),” Iffah Sa’aidah, a trade attaché in Ottawa with the Indonesian government, said. “There will be a benefit of both of the trade deals, usually the bilateral trade deal is more broad and deeper, maybe more technical and economic co-operation.”

Indonesia is a co-ordinator of ASEAN’s pursuit of a trade deal with Canada, for which formal negotiations are expected to begin in early 2022.

By itself, Indonesia is “one of the top destinations for Canadian cereal crops and a gateway into the rapidly growing Asia Pacific region,” Dean Dias, CEO of Cereals Canada, said in a release Monday hailing the two countries’ announcement.

Indonesia, he said, “is a major market and source of growth, especially for Canadian wheat exports. Consumers there buy 11 per cent of Canada’s wheat exports to the world, bringing over $600 million in value on average to Canadian farmers and exporters each year.”

Cereals Canada, he said, expects the CEPA negotiations to “strengthen the stability of market access over the long-term. For Canadian farmers and exporters, promoting science-based policies that elevates the trade and business environment is a real priority.”

Global Affairs Canada, meanwhile, said in its report that a bilateral pact with Indonesia could “contribute significantly to Canada’s overall economic, social and environmental priorities, in line with Canada’s commitment to an inclusive approach to trade.”

Including issues such as the environment or labour rights in trade deals are relatively new to Indonesian negotiators, who have expressed caution over Canada’s insistence on including such measures.

Despite such issues ranking as a lower priority, Global Affairs noted in its report “many submissions indicated support for Canada’s inclusive approach to trade, which aims to ensure that the benefits of trade are more widely shared. A few submissions mentioned that Canada is well-placed to ensure that any future agreement promotes equality, non-discrimination and human rights in both Canada and Indonesia.”

Some stakeholders suggested labour standards and human rights issues be addressed through a dedicated chapter in the trade agreement.

“Several stakeholders mentioned that poor health and safety regulations, low compensation and forced child labour in Indonesia are all factors that Canada should consider when negotiating an agreement,” read the report from Global Affairs.

Environmental concerns, including Indonesia’s limited environmental regulations, were also raised as a concern.

In Sunday’s announcement, the two countries’ trade ministers said jointly that “without prejudice to the final outcomes, the negotiations would cover mutually agreed areas of interest to both Indonesia and Canada, including market access, rules to facilitate trade and investment, and co-operation.”

Those talks, they said, would take into account “each other’s sensitivities and different levels of development.”

— Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia reporter D.C. Fraser in Ottawa.

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Steve Verheul, assistant deputy minister of trade policy and negotiations at Global Affairs Canada, told a parliamentary committee any deal between the two countries will be impacted by European Union-U.K. negotiations, which are unlikely to be completed this year.

“Any future relationship between Canada and the U.K. would be influenced by the terms of the agreement between the UK and the EU, as well as any unilateral U.K. approaches for after the transition period,” he said during a July 9 meeting of the Commons standing committee on international trade.

The U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31 and is in the middle of an 11-month implementation period. A trade deal between the two does not appear to be on the immediate horizon, however, as recent negotiations have been difficult.

Verheul reassured members of Parliament during his testimony that trade officials from Canada are in contact with their British counterparts to prepare for the post-transition trade relationship.

“Whatever the outcome of Brexit, the U.K. will remain a significant market for Canadian companies,” he said, noting the U.K. is Canada’s most important commercial partner in Europe.

But Canadian officials are challenged by a number of unknowns. The U.K. is prioritizing its negotiation with the EU, and once completed, is expected to enter into bilateral negotiations with a number of other countries, notably its larger trading partners.

There’s also the possibility the 11-month transition phase ends without the U.K. signing a trade deal with the EU.

“We are working closely now with U.K. officials to start to talk about how we can come up with a traditional relationship that would govern our bilateral trade going forward,” Verheul said. “We’re trying to position ourselves to make sure we have an agreement in place, an understanding in place, to deal with that possible event.

“There are various uncertainties here that we are having to monitor.”

If negotiations do begin between Canada and the U.K., Verheul told the committee the goal would be to replicate the Canada-European Union trade pact, or Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), as much as possible, while making it more tailored to the unique relationship between the two countries.

“We would look to, and the U.K. would as well, to translate into a bilateral agreement” said Verheul, adding a “large portion of that work has already been done.”

Discussions between the two nations stretch back to when Brexit was first becoming a reality, following the U.K.-wide referendum on ending EU membership in 2016, and Verheul noted a deal was almost struck early last year.

Claire Citeau, executive director of CAFTA, said CETA held promise for exporters when first signed but “continues to fall short” of its potential, because of the EU’s reluctance to remove technical and non-tariff trade barriers to trade over the deal’s three years of existence.

“Our view is that Canada should formally engage and seek to conclude negotiations of an ambitious (Canada-U.K.) free trade agreement that removes tariffs and non-tariff barriers, that provides liberal rules of origins, and secures the level playing fields,” she said, noting some other countries have done this and Canada needs “to be at the table as well.”

She expressed frustration over the pace at which Canada has been negotiating.

“Certainly, there’s been some anxiety that our members feel, not only on non-tariff barriers but also the pace of negotiations that some of our competitors have adopted when it comes to negotiating free trade agreements around the world… that has been the case with the U.K., but other countries as well,” she said.

“We know that we lose when our competitors are first to markets that we’re also after, so seeing the U.S., Australia, the EU engage with the U.K., it certainly raises eyebrows and questions.”

Andy Barr, head of trade and economics at the British High Commission in Canada, told Glacier FarmMedia in late January that he’d like to see the two nations “lock in the benefits of CETA and then boost the relationship from there.”

Doubts remain over how much any new trade deal between the U.K. and Canada will positively impact farmers.

Despite the EU being the world’s largest importer of agriculture and agri-food products, Canada’s market share has been minimal since CETA came into force in 2017.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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Despite some contentious issues still on the table, the increasingly positive tone contrasted with U.S. President Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Canada in recent weeks, raising hopes that the year-long talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement will conclude soon with a trilateral deal.

“Canada’s going to make a deal at some point. It may be by Friday or it may be within a period of time,” U.S. President Donald Trump told Bloomberg Television. “I think we’re close to a deal.”

Trilateral talks were already underway at the technical level and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo was expected to soon rejoin talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, possibly later on Thursday, people familiar with the process said.

Negotiations entered a crucial phase this week after the U.S. and Mexico announced a bilateral deal on Monday, paving the way for Canada to rejoin talks to modernize the 24-year-old accord that underpins over US$1 trillion in annual trade.

The NAFTA deal that is taking shape would likely strengthen North America as a manufacturing base by making it more costly for automakers to import a large share of vehicle parts from outside the region. The automotive content provisions, the most contentious topic, could accelerate a shift of parts-making away from China.

A new chapter governing the digital economy, along with stronger intellectual property, labor and environmental standards could also work to the benefit of U.S. companies, helping Trump to fulfill his campaign promise of creating more American jobs.

Trump has set a Friday deadline for the three countries to reach an agreement, which would allow Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to sign it before he leaves office at the end of November. Under U.S. law, Trump must wait 90 days before signing the pact.

The U.S. president has warned he could try to proceed with a deal with Mexico alone and levy tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Ottawa does not come on board, although U.S. lawmakers have said ratifying a bilateral deal would not be easy.

Dairy, dispute settlement

One sticking point for Canada is the U.S. effort to dump the Chapter 19 dispute-resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. Lighthizer said on Monday that Mexico had agreed to eliminate the mechanism.

Trump also wants a NAFTA deal that eliminates dairy tariffs of up to 300 per cent that he argues are hurting U.S. farmers, an important political base for Republicans.

But any concessions to Washington by Ottawa is likely to upset Canadian dairy farmers, who have an outsized influence in Canadian politics, with their concentration in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

“Ultimately, we’ve got huge issues that are still to be resolved,” said Jerry Dias, head of Canada’s influential Unifor labour union. “Either we’re going to be trading partners or we’re going to fight.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Gordon and Sharay Angulo; additional reporting by David Lawder; writing by Denny Thomas and David Lawder.

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“We’re trying to equalize it. It’s not easy but we’re getting there,” he told a group of U.S. small business executives. “We’ll see whether or not we can make a reasonable NAFTA deal.”

Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump called a “disaster” for the U.S., was a goal he had set out during his election campaign.

Negotiations to modernize NAFTA started last August and were initially scheduled to finish by the end of December 2017.

That deadline has been extended several times as Canada and Mexico struggle to accommodate far-reaching U.S. demands for change, such as a sunset clause that would allow one nation to pull out after five years. Canada and Mexico reject the idea.

At a news conference in Mexico City, Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray said he expected the next negotiating meeting of ministers to be held in July.

The Canadian government believes a deal to update NAFTA is still possible despite a U.S. move to impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Ottawa on Tuesday.

“A modernized win-win-win deal that benefits all three NAFTA partners is possible and we continue to work hard and patiently to achieve this outcome,” Freeland said to legislators on the House of Commons international trade committee.

Freeland said she had discussed NAFTA with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer over the last few days.

“I remain convinced there is goodwill and a desire to move forward on the NAFTA negotiations… we will be working hard over the summer,” she added.

Trade frictions between the U.S. and Canada have been particularly strained in recent weeks, with Trump taking umbrage at remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that were critical of the heavy U.S. tariffs.

Freeland on Tuesday repeated the Liberal government’s assertion that the NAFTA talks were on a separate track from the tariffs. Canada is preparing a retaliatory list of measures which it says will come into force on July 1.

Trump said on Tuesday the two nations had a good relationship but that Americans were being taken advantage of when it came to trade.

“We have to change our ways. We can no longer be the stupid country,” Trump said. “We want to be the smart country.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Jeff Mason and David Ljunggren; writing by Tim Ahmann.

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The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Council No. 11, which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, announced a tentative three-year deal with Calgary-based CP Tuesday evening.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), whose 3,000-odd CP locomotive engineer and conductor members had hit the picket line Tuesday at 9 p.m. CT, announced a four-year deal Wednesday. Full operations are to resume at 6 a.m. “local time” on Thursday, the Teamsters said in a release.

Details of the two agreements haven’t yet been released pending ratification votes by the two unions’ members, a process the TCRC said will take place “over the coming months.”

“We believe this is a fair contract that our members can feel good about ratifying,” TCRC president Doug Finnson said in a release. “I am personally very satisfied with what we have negotiated.”

Negotiations “were difficult but in the end we have reached a good deal for our membership and we’re looking forward to building on the momentum of the last few days,” IBEW Council No. 11 senior general chairman Steve Martin said in a separate statement.

CP CEO Keith Creel on Tuesday thanked the IBEW bargaining committee for its “hard work and… creativity” and added he “look(s) forward to working with this union to become the employer of choice.”

Creel on Wednesday added it’s “especially meaningful to achieve a four-year tentative agreement with our valued locomotive engineers and conductors, providing long-term stability for all parties involved.”

The TCRC, in a release, also credited the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu for “helping parties find common ground,” and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “for standing up for workers’ right to negotiate.”

Trudeau, speaking in Toronto Tuesday, had been quoted by Canadian Press as saying Canada has “companies that have gotten used to the fact that in certain industries, the government in the past was very quick to legislate against unions… We are not going to do that.”

“Previous governments were all too eager to threaten back-to-work legislation, acting quickly on behalf of employers against workers and their unions,” TCRC’s Finnson said Wednesday. “We thank the government for proving that collective bargaining can work when it’s allowed to.”

IBEW’s Martin on Tuesday also hailed Hajdu and FMCS mediator Peter Simpson “for coming to Calgary and working with all sides in order to find a fair deal.”

Hajdu, in a separate statement Wednesday, described the tentative deals as “further evidence that when employers, organized labour and governments work together and respect the collective bargaining process, we get the best results for Canadians and for our economy.”

Grain Growers of Canada, among other groups representing CP customers in agriculture and various industries, had warned earlier Wednesday that a strike could be “potentially disastrous” for the sector and urged Trudeau and Hajdu to legislate the Teamsters back to work.

In a separate statement later Wednesday, GGC president Jeff Nielsen credited both Trudeau and Hajdu “for their leadership in encouraging the two sides to reach the negotiated outcome that ended the work stoppage.

“With grain bins and elevators still full across the Prairies we are counting on both railways to work to full capacity to get our backlogged grain to export position,” he said.

The TCRC and CP on Wednesday also announced a tentative five-year agreement which ends a concurrent strike by Teamster-led conductors and locomotive engineers with the company’s Kootenay Valley Railway (KVR) business unit in British Columbia. — AGCanada.com Network

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Negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement have stalled as Canada and Mexico try to digest U.S. demands for major changes.

U.S. officials have said some kind of a deal is needed in the next few weeks to prevent the negotiations spilling into campaigns for a Mexican presidential vote on July 1 and mid-term elections for the U.S. Congress in November.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she had spoken on Monday with her counterparts driving the file — U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo — and they had agreed to meet if necessary.

“That was one of the things we talked about yesterday — all of us are able to get on a plane and meet at the moment when that could bounce the negotiations (forward). So we are in very close, I would say constant, touch,” she told reporters.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said major issues remained between the NAFTA nations.

Canada and Mexico are struggling to accommodate U.S. demands for tougher rules of origin that dictate how much of a car must be produced in NAFTA nations to quality for duty-free status.

“I personally do believe that an agreement on rules of origin is really achievable but it is also the case that nothing is done until everything is done,” said Freeland.

A U.S. official said no meetings between the three top ministers were currently scheduled.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has regularly threatened to pull out of the 1994 agreement, also wants higher wages in the auto sector.

— David Ljunggren is a Reuters political correspondent in Ottawa; additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington.

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Ryan, who controls legislation in the House of Representatives, set his deadline in remarks delivered on Wednesday to the Ripon Society in Washington and publicized on Thursday.

Under the “fast track” trade negotiating law, there are lengthy notification periods before U.S. President Donald Trump could sign a new North American Free Trade Agreement and before Congress could begin considering it.

Letting negotiations drag on much longer would punt consideration to a new Congress elected in November that will take office in January 2018, one that could cede more control to Democrats.

“We have to have the paper — not just an agreement, we have to have the paper — from USTR by May 17 for us to vote on it this year, in December, in the lame duck” session, Ryan said.

A spokeswoman for Ryan said that he was referring to a notification of intent to sign the NAFTA agreement, not necessarily the full text.

Major differences remain between the three members of NAFTA after more than eight months of largely slow-moving negotiations launched at the insistence of President Trump, who wants major changes to the 1994 pact.

Friday indication

Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said he expected to learn by the end of Friday whether a new deal was possible. He and his counterparts have been meeting in Washington since Monday to try to bridge major gaps.

“I think we will be finding out through the day and tomorrow… if we really have what it takes to be able to land these things in the short run,” Guajardo told Reuters.

A source close to the talks said it was possible that Guajardo, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland could extend their meetings into the weekend.

A USTR spokeswoman declined comment while a Freeland spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Guajardo told Reuters that “we have suitcases for two weeks if necessary.”

This week’s talks hit an obstacle as the U.S. and Mexico sought to settle differences over the key issue of automobiles.

“Mexico obviously is here in order to negotiate the best agreement for Mexican workers and consumers. It will take as long as it will take,” Mexican deputy economy minister Juan Carlos Baker told reporters late in the day.

But Ryan expressed skepticism that a deal could be reached in time and noted that several major issues remained unresolved, such as U.S. demands for more access to Canada’s dairy market and to make an investment dispute arbitration system optional.

“There are a handful of unresolved issues and I’m just not — I don’t want to make news, but we’ll see if they can get this done by May 17 and get us the paper to Congress, which then we could have this vote in December,” Ryan said. “If they can’t, then we won’t.”

Trump regularly threatens to walk away from NAFTA, underscoring uncertainty over the pact. Business executives complain that the lack of clarity is hitting investment.

Canada more upbeat

Freeland, however, struck a more optimistic tone. Speaking to reporters after meetings with U.S. legislators on Capitol Hill, she sidestepped questions as to when an agreement might be reached but said the three nations had made a lot of progress since Monday.

She is due to meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday.

Mexico has launched a counterproposal to U.S. demands to toughen automotive industry content rules and boost wages. Trump blames cheaper wages in Mexico for manufacturing job losses in the U.S..

Many other major issues crucial to a deal are still unresolved, including U.S. demands for a five-year sunset clause, and elimination of settlement panels for trade disputes.

After meeting with Lighthizer on Thursday, Guajardo told reporters that the talks were not just covering autos.

“You cannot think that in a process of negotiations we’re going to solve one item without reviewing the overall balance of the agreement,” he said. “We’re going over all the items. It’s very important to stress that.”

— Reporting for Reuters by David Lawder and David Ljunggren.

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