American officials from the president on down have issued the warning repeatedly in recent days: Canada must agree to a revamped NAFTA deal by Friday or miss out on a crucial window of opportunity...
But outside experts say the American law governing how Congress approves trade deals — the oft-cited reason for the time crunch — permits much more flexibility. Talks with Canadian negotiators could actually continue into late September, while still enabling Mexico’s outgoing president to sign the accord before Dec. 1, considered a crucial objective, they say.
Canada would still have to consent on Friday to the White House issuing Congress a notice of an impending agreement but could then keep negotiating details of the deal...
The U.S. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) requires the White House to give Congress 90 days’ notice that it plans to sign a trade deal. On its own, that would make Saturday the deadline for concluding things. The White House has said it would give notice Friday.
But the TPA also says the final text of the deal doesn’t have to be released until 60 days before signing.
That means Canada could have as much as another 30 days to hammer out its part in the agreement, trade experts say...
This is excerpted from 29 August 2018 edition of the National Post.