American trade officials are showing newfound interest in a Canadian proposal for revamping NAFTA's automotive provisions as the U.S. seeks to swiftly conclude renegotiations of the continental free trade pact.

And that's being taken in some quarters as a sign that the U.S. may realize it will have to settle for making only modest progress on a handful of American demands if there's to be any hope of concluding a deal within the next few weeks.

At the conclusion of the last round of negotiations in Mexico earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said "time is running very short" to get a deal before "political headwinds" — Mexico's presidential election in July, American midterms in November and provincial elections in Ontario and Quebec — start to complicate matters.

This was excerpted from the 19 March 2018 edition of CBC News.