U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States may hammer out a trade deal with Mexico, and then do a separate one with Canada later, sowing fresh doubts about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)...

...the negotiations that started last August have moved slowly. They were initially scheduled to finish by the end of 2017, but the deadline has been extended several times as Canada and Mexico struggle to accommodate U.S. demands.

Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he wants a good relationship with the United States and that his transition team will participate in future NAFTA talks. He met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week...

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Wednesday that he would travel to Washington for bilateral trade talks on July 26 and would later meet with Canadian officials. Guajardo, Mexico’s top trade official, told reporters that the three countries were “resuming negotiations” on NAFTA.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, asked whether trilateral talks and separate Canadian talks were off the table, said: “We’re continuing both of those tracks. We see a lot of progress on the conversations with Mexico, and if we could make a bilateral deal with them, we’re certainly very happy to do that. But, again, we’re continuing both conversations, both tracks.”...

This is excerpted from 18 July 2018 edition of the Financial Post.