What to Expect From Nafta 2.0 Negotiations: QuickTake Scorecard

Sparks could fly when trade negotiators for U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto meet Aug. 16-20 in Washington. Their task: Begin renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. At 23 years old, Nafta is long in the tooth but also responsible for tripling U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico to $1.2 trillion of goods and services last year, from about $350 billion in 1993. The good news for free traders? Trump has largely stopped talking about ripping up Nafta and slapping tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Each leader has a list of must-haves and wish-fors, some of which could be deal-breakers for the other two. Here are some of the major sticking points:

The U.S.’s small goods-and-services trade surplus with Mexico before Nafta turned into a deficit of $63 billion last year, which Trump says is evidence that Nafta has been a bad deal for the U.S. Seeking a big win after recent setbacks on health care and immigration, Trump wants the Nafta talks to deliver the prize he most desires, a lower trade deficit with Mexico. When it comes to Canada, Trump has said he can live with “tweaks,” probably because the U.S. had a $7.7 billion surplus with Canada last year and dozens of U.S. states count their northern neighbor as their biggest export market.