AS FAR back as the campaign trail, President Donald Trump had promised to renegotiate or rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). But Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said that if this Congress is to have time to approve a new version, it needs word that a deal is going ahead by May 17th. As The Economist went to press, that deadline seemed unlikely to be met.
Negotiations seemed to stall on May 11th over rules relating to carmaking. After a brief meeting between ministers, and despite reports that momentum has been building in recent weeks, wide differences remained. Representatives of the Mexican car industry had planned to return to Washington on May 14th to resume talks, but were told by their government not to bother.
The impasse is over “rules of origin”, which must be satisfied if a car is to qualify for tariff-free export within the trade bloc. Such rules normally set minimum requirements for…
