The leaders of the United States and Canada expressed optimism that they could reach a new negotiated agreement by Friday's deadline, despite Canada's warning that a number of tricky issues remained.
Canada joined under pressure to talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) after the United States and Mexico announced a bilateral agreement.
The Canadian foreign minister said there was a lot of goodwill between the Canadian and U.S. negotiators and they would meet until late at night. U.S. President Donald Trump set a deadline on Friday for the three countries to reach an in-principle agreement allowing the Mexican president to sign it before leaving office in November, while Trump must wait 90 days before signing the agreement.
Trump warned that he might try to reach a bilateral agreement with Mexico alone and impose customs duties on Canadian cars. On the other hand, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thinks the deadline could be met, but added that not getting a NAFTA deal is better than getting a bad deal.
Kristia Freeland, the Canadian foreign minister and Canadian chief negotiator, has been marginalized from the talks for more than two months and may be under pressure to accept conditions set by the United States and Mexico.
