The formal notification is required if the Trump administration wants to be able to submit the final deal to Congress under what’s known as fast-track authority. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images Trump has a deal with Mexico on NAFTA; Canada talks falter amid Trump tweets

The Trump administration told Congress on Friday that it will sign a new free-trade agreement with Mexico in late November, adding that Canada would be part of the deal if some tough issues can be resolved. However, President Donald Trump on Saturday made his feelings clear on the matter, attacking both Canada and NAFTA in a series of tweets.

“Today the president notified the Congress of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico — and Canada, if it is willing — 90 days from now,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement after efforts to close the deal with Canada stalled. “We have also been negotiating with Canada throughout this yearlong process. This week those meetings continued at all levels. The talks were constructive, and we made progress.”


Trump on Saturday tweeted: "There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off... ....Remember, NAFTA was one of the WORST Trade Deals ever made. The U.S. lost thousands of businesses and millions of jobs. We were far better off before NAFTA - should never have been signed. Even the Vat Tax was not accounted for. We make new deal or go back to pre-NAFTA!"

A Canadian team lead by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will return to Washington on Wednesday after the long holiday weekend. She told reporters Friday that negotiators have not yet agreed on terms for Canada to join a preliminary U.S.-Mexico deal to update NAFTA, but said that they will continue to work intensely toward a three-way pact.

“We know that a win-win-win agreement is within reach and that’s what we’re working toward,” she said during a press conference at the Canadian Embassy. “I’m paid in Canadian dollars and my job is to ensure that this agreement works for” Canadian families and workers.

The Mexican government on Friday welcomed Trump’s notification to Congress as a “step forward in the formalization of the understandings reached by Mexico and the U.S. in relation to NAFTA.” Mexico will continue to follow the U.S.-Canada bilateral talks, and will participate when needed for trilateral topics, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

But Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said it was “premature” for Trump to announce his intention to sign the trade deal with many difficult issues pending.

“It sure looks like the president is more concerned with announcing a deal during election season, rather than getting the best deal possible for American workers, based on his rush to make an announcement before negotiations are close to complete,” Wyden said.

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also expressed skepticism about the progress so far and stressed the need for Canada to be part of the pact.

“We still don’t know the specifics of this trade agreement, or whether it will measure up to the claims of an administration with a terrible record of delivering. I remain hopeful of progress, but without a final agreement with Canada, the administration’s work is woefully incomplete,” she said.

The U.S. and Canada still need to reach compromises on contentious issues like access to its dairy markets and how to handle certain dispute settlements.

Trump has for months said Canada must be willing to make concessions on the dairy issue. Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic adviser, also highlighted the matter earlier this week and said the final agreement has “got to the include the dairy farm stuff.”

“There's a word that Canada has trouble with,” Kudlow said in an interview on Fox News this week. “It's M-I-L-K. Milk."

At the heart of the issue is Canada’s supply management system for dairy, a pricing program that U.S. producers feel has undercut certain U.S. dairy exports north of the border. U.S. officials have also complained about market access issues for U.S. dairy producers in Canada, which is also part of the discussion.

“They have the tariffs almost 300 percent on some of our dairy products,” Trump said in the Oval Office Monday when he announced progress made between the U.S. and Mexico. “And we can't have that. We are not going to stand for that.”

Before talks abruptly ended on Friday, a dairy industry official said he was “confident” the Trump would come back with an agreement that the National Milk Producers Federation, the largest U.S. dairy group, will support.

The head of Unifor, Canada’s largest labor union, said that the dispute settlement mechanism that is part of Chapter 19 of the text was the main holdup for Canadian negotiators. The United States wants to eliminate the provision, which allows NAFTA countries to challenge each other’s anti-dumping actions.

"If you take a look at what's transpired over the last year — tariffs on softwood lumber, paper, aerospace, steel, aluminum — it's clear that we need a dispute mechanism with the United States," Unifor President Jerry Dias said. "For us, no deal is better" than having a bad deal.

American union groups, who could strongly influence how many Democrats vote for the agreement, said they were encouraged by progress on their concerns but want more proof that Mexico will follow through on promised changes.

“We will reserve final judgment on the value of this deal for working families until we can review the full and final text,” the AFL-CIO and five other labor groups said in a joint statement.

The letter Trump sent to Congress highlighted the accomplishments in the past year’s negotiations. The letter touts improved rules for auto production, labor and environment rules that will be “strictly enforced,” and protections against currency manipulation, among other things.

“In short, this agreement is a great deal for the America people,” the letter states. “It sets a new tone for all trade agreements, proof of the high standard that my administration will require of any country entering a new trade agreement with the United States.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that oversees trade, said he was “encouraged” by the progress of the talks, but made clear that he is looking for both Canada and Mexico to be part of a final deal.

“As the details of an eventual deal become available, I will evaluate it to ensure that the agreement will maintain and improve access for American products and services to Canada and Mexico, as well as protect American innovation,” he said in a statement.

Leading business groups also underscored that they want NAFTA to remain a three-nation pact.

“NAFTA’s many strengths rest on the fact that it ties together three economically vibrant nations, drawing upon each of our strengths to boost the competitiveness of the whole. If you break off one member of this agreement, you break it all, and that would be bad news for U.S. businesses, for American jobs, and for economic growth,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said in a statement.

The administration doesn’t have to release text of the agreement until 60 days before it signs the deal. That potentially gives it until the end of September to reach a final NAFTA deal with both Canada and Mexico.

However, if the talks drag on too long, the administration risks being accused by Congress of violating procedures outlined in the 2015 trade promotion authority law. If that happens, it could lose certain protections aimed at easing the approval of trade pacts.

Outside the negotiating room, a report by the Toronto Star cast a cloud over the talks by raising the question of whether Trump, who campaigned as the ultimate deal-maker, was willing to engage in the ordinary give-and-take of negotiations to get an agreement.

Trump reportedly said Thursday he is unwilling to make any concessions at all to Canada but is unable to say so publicly, because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.” The remarks were told to Bloomberg reporters off the record but then reported by the Toronto Star.

Asked about the report, Freeland said that her U.S. counterpart “is Ambassador Lighthizer, and as I’ve said, he’s brought good faith and good will to the table.” She added that negotiators have made progress in the past year, as “our starting point was a place where Canada and the U.S. were far apart in our proposals."

A source close to the talks played down the impact of Trump's comments on the negotiations, saying both sides remain intent on getting a deal.

A few hours later, Trump called the incident a violation of his agreement with Bloomberg News reporters, but he did not deny the comments.

"Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand!," Trump said in the tweet.

Officials have been pushing to wrap up the talks on Friday as part of an effort to enable outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to sign a deal before his last day in office on Nov. 30.

The formal notification is required for the Trump administration to submit a final deal to Congress under "fast-track" authority, which requires only a straight up-or-down vote for approval. The earliest a deal could be signed is 90 days from now. Officials will have roughly another month to finalize details — and potentially bring Canada into the agreement — before draft text must be submitted to Congress.

Megan Cassella contributed to this report.

