NAFTA negotiators for Canada, Mexico and the United States have postponed new talks until next month. But the truth is that the deal is “on life support, and it is unclear whether the patient will even survive into the coming year,” writes Eric Farnsworth for Americas Quarterly. Just look at the way the three sides are talking to each other.
More consequential than the announcement that talks might have to continue into 2018 “was the strong language that negotiators have begun to use with reference to each other, essentially questioning the good faith of their counterparts” Farnsworth says. “Difficult and complex issues can be negotiated within a spirit of goodwill; a prevailing mood of suspicion and zero-sum positions will make conclusion of the agreement much more difficult if not impossible. The new demands that the U.S. has just brought to the negotiations, including dispute resolution procedures, sunset provisions, and local content requirements, among others, are not designed to forge consensus but rather to upend the entire agreement.”
“The trust that had developed through hard work over more than two decades, from trade and investment issues to security to immigration, is rapidly dissipating. Without trust as the glue holding them together, North American economic and political relations will be much more difficult to pursue effectively.”
More consequential than the announcement that talks might have to continue into 2018 “was the strong language that negotiators have begun to use with reference to each other, essentially questioning the good faith of their counterparts” Farnsworth says. “Difficult and complex issues can be negotiated within a spirit of goodwill; a prevailing mood of suspicion and zero-sum positions will make conclusion of the agreement much more difficult if not impossible. The new demands that the U.S. has just brought to the negotiations, including dispute resolution procedures, sunset provisions, and local content requirements, among others, are not designed to forge consensus but rather to upend the entire agreement.”
“The trust that had developed through hard work over more than two decades, from trade and investment issues to security to immigration, is rapidly dissipating. Without trust as the glue holding them together, North American economic and political relations will be much more difficult to pursue effectively.”
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