Canada, the United States and Mexico are still "quite a distance away" from agreement on key aspects of a revised North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada's chief NAFTA negotiator said today.

Optimism bloomed last week when U.S. negotiators dropped their contentious demand that all vehicles made in Canada and Mexico bound for the U.S. market contain at least 50 per cent American-made components.

Lead Canadian negotiator Steve Verheul said that while that compromise was a positive signal, there are still outstanding issues that need to be resolved.

"Right now, we are still quite a distance away from any kind of agreement on the approach to auto rules of origin," said Verheul, speaking to reporters in Ottawa. "We had issues around dispute settlement and ensuring that dispute settlement provisions will be enforceable in any kind of new NAFTA.

This was excerpted from the 28 March 2018 edition of CBC News.