NAFTA negotiators are hoping to pick up where they left off in Montreal in January and make more progress behind the scenes in Mexico City this week.
But if that progress is going to be meaningful, observers warn the talks are going to need to move faster than they have in the past.
The political calendar is hanging over this round of discussions; campaigning for the Mexican federal election is set to begin in late March.
If a deal is not reached by then, it will add another layer of uncertainty to the renegotiation process and could further slow the talks.
This was excerpted from the 25 February 2018 edition of CBC News.