US, Canada working in 'good faith' to salvage three-country NAFTA

The US and Canada were working in "good faith" to salvage a continental free trade deal on Wednesday, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned he would stand firm on key issues as he questioned Donald Trump's respect for trade rules.

The US president stressed meanwhile that he was looking for a fair deal to prevent Canada from "taking advantage" of the United States.

Amid the charged political atmosphere, dogged by Trump's repeated threats to leave Canada out of the revised North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said there is "good faith and goodwill on both sides" in the talks.

That was a notable change from Friday, when inflammatory comments from Trump angered officials in Ottawa and the discussions ended with no agreement on a rewrite of the 25-year-old trade deal.

Following her first meeting of the day with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, as they try to salvage NAFTA as a three-country pact, Freeland told reporters the work continues and they will "come back with some fresh ideas later on in the afternoon."
Trudeau said there is an opportunity to improve NAFTA, but the outcome will depend on what happens at the negotiating table. And he stressed that he "will not sign an agreement that would be bad for Canada." "We'll walk away and not sign a deal rather than sign a bad deal."