WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will stay in Washington all of Thursday for talks on updating the North American Free Trade Agreement and no longer plans to attend a NATO summit in Brussels on Friday, a spokesman said.
Freeland is in the U.S. capital for a third straight day of top-level negotiations with her Mexican and U.S. counterparts as they try to strike a quick NAFTA deal.
“The Minister will remain in Washington for all of Thursday to continue NAFTA negotiations,” Freeland spokesman Adam Austen said in an emailed statement.
Freeland said late on Wednesday that the three sides had made good progress on the key issue of auto rules.
That said, major differences still remain to be settled.
Freeland also underlined Canada’s objection to proposed U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports which are due to come into force on May 1 if Washington deems that not enough progress has been made in the NAFTA talks.
Reporting by Jason Lange; Additional writing and reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Paul Simao
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