Ryan: NAFTA resolution deadline Thursday

“Unresolved issues” like Canadian dairy market access and automotive provisions must be ironed out soon if Congress is going to vote on a modernized deal this year.    House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Wednesday said that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) needs to finalize the NAFTA renegotiation and make appropriate notifications under the Trade Promotion Authority by next Thursday in order for Congress to vote on a modernized deal this year during Congress’ lame-duck session.
   “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 … which, then, we could have this vote in December,” Ryan said during a speech at a Ripon Society event. “If they can’t, then we won’t.”
   Ryan pointed to Canadian market restrictions on U.S. dairy exports and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), which he said “is a good thing” as major issues of the renegotiation.
   Ryan has announced he is retiring from Congress at the end of this term.
   Deliberations among the countries on automotive provisions, including Mexico’s minimum wage for auto workers, also have occupied a large portion of the renegotiation, and automotive provisions remain among the most contentious issues that must be ironed out before NAFTA parties settle on a new deal.
   Top officials from Mexico and Canada, including Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, were in Washington this week, as they have been in many previous weeks, in the hopes of closing the negotiating gaps among the three governments.
   In addition to securing agreement from Mexico and Canada, USTR will have to garner approval for NAFTA 2.0 from a GOP-majority U.S. Congress with top trade lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who have firmly opposed USTR’s stance against NAFTA’s existing ISDS framework.
   USTR has proposed to make the mechanism optional, essentially setting the stage for an ISDS structure that is non-binding between NAFTA parties.