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Report: U.S. Aims for NAFTA Deal By Mid-May

Officials from the U.S., Canada and Mexico are attending meetings this week with a near-term goal of crafting a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal, CNBC reported. The U.S. is hoping to reach a deal in principle over the next month, according to congressional aides and industry executives that spoke to the cable news outlet.

Specifically, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has told lawmakers it will take roughly two weeks for high-level talks to finish and likely another two weeks for final details to be agreed upon. Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo are meeting in-person in the U.S. for a second round of April talks.

About one year ago, Lighthizer notified Congress of the Trump administration’s plan to reopen NAFTA talks. Trump has been critical of the current agreement and has threatened on multiple occasions to withdraw from NAFTA if the deal wasn’t – in the mind of the U.S. president – friendlier toward U.S. interests.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has not released comment on the CNBC report, but House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady generally confirmed the proposed timeline earlier this week. “I think it’s encouraging that all three countries are really focused toward a late April/early May agreement,” Brady told reporters.

Business leaders in the promotional products industry have kept an eye on NAFTA talks and have expressed concern that a renegotiated deal could result in trade tariffs and other new restrictions. The main worry is that a new agreement could inhibit commerce across national borders, ramping up pricing and hurting sales.