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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said major issues remained in talks between the United States, Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA).
“There are still some very significant, open issues,” Mnuchin said in an interview on CNBC.
“We’ll see where we get over the next few weeks,” he said, adding that he thinks there is still a desire among the three countries to reach an agreement.
“We’re still trying to get a new deal done. That is a priority for the president,” Mnuchin told CNBC.
He added that Trump administration remained focused on crafting a new NAFTA deal that would require congressional approval, but that Trump could consider a possible so-called “skinny deal” that would not.
His comments come as talks to rework the 24-year-old trade accord have intensified in recent weeks.
Mnuchin has said that Trump is not focused on a specific deadline, but there are pressures given Mexico’s presidential election in July as well as congressional deadlines and U.S. midterm elections in November.
Mexico has said that the remaining issues are not complex. Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the countries were nowhere near a deal.
Reporting by Susan Heavey and Jason Lange; Editing by Nick Zieminski
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