One of the biggest sticking points in the discussions is Washington's demand that vehicles contain 50% US-made content to qualify for preferential market access. (EPA Images pic)MEXICO CITY: US and Mexican officials said on Thursday they will meet for a fourth round of negotiations to revamp the North American trade pact in September, after talks this week exposed disagreements over changes to automotive content rules and other issues.US trade representative Jamieson Greer met with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and economy minister Marcelo Ebrard this week during a third round of talks over the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).In a joint statement issued after the talks concluded, the two governments said Greer and Sheinbaum discussed autos, economic security, labour, agriculture, electronic payment services as well as steel and aluminum products."Ambassador Greer and President Sheinbaum agreed on the importance of bilateral cooperation and underscored the urgency of growing North American manufacturing, strengthening regional supply chains and addressing free-riding from non-parties" like China, the statement said.Greer and Ebrard agreed that a fourth bilateral negotiating round would take place in Washington in early September, the statement said."The conversations were constructive and produced advances on topics like steel, aluminum" and substitution of imports from Asia, Ebrard said in a separate statement on Thursday.The bilateral talks have excluded Canada. They come as the countries renegotiate the 6-year-old agreement, which underpins nearly US$1.6 trillion in regional trade that was once duty-free.
Negotiations threaten to bleed into next year, prolonging business and investment uncertainty that Mexico and Canada have been seeking to ease.But the two sides remain far apart on key issues, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the closed-door talks.Sticking pointsOne of the biggest sticking points is Washington's demand that vehicles contain 50% of US-made content to qualify for preferential market access.The proposal has been a non-starter for the Mexican government, one of the sources said. Mexico is unwilling to accept "even 1%" of American content, one of the sources said, adding that such a provision "opens the door for a potential increase in the f…
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