“We’re worried about it going into 2019,” said Brian Kuehl, executive director of Farmers for Free Trade, which supports the treaty. Negotiators’ original goal of a deal by the end of 2017 slipped to March 31 after several rounds of talks made little progress. One U.S. trade official, who asked for anonymity to discuss confidential discussions, said the amount of work remaining meant that it “won’t be surprising if the talks continue” beyond the end of March. The Canadian government always has rejected the idea of “an arbitrary deadline” for the talks, a spokesman said. Trump’s threats to withdraw from NAFTA have prompted Mexico and Canada to look for alternative suppliers for products they buy from U.S. companies.

Source: Washington Post January 28, 2018 17:03 UTC