Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland accused the United States of deliberately trying to undermine the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling its list of unconventional proposals "troubling." Freeland said the "unconventional" demands from the U.S. are making the work of negotiating the trilateral trade pact "much more challenging." She stressed that NAFTA has created jobs and opportunities for Canada, Mexico and the U.S. for the last 23 years that have benefited middle-class families. "Yet in rounds three and four, we have seen proposals that turn back the clock on 23 years of predictability, openness and collaboration under NAFTA," she said. Freeland said the U.S. demands on national content rules would "severely disrupt" supply chains, weakening North American productivity and jeopardizing thousands of jobs in all three countries.

Source: CBC News October 17, 2017 20:53 UTC