The United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement resolving key bilateral trade issues, a source familiar with the negotiations confirms .
Negotiators worked all day Sunday and were expected to reconvene at the US Trade Representative’s office in Washington on Monday morning.
The preliminary agreement between the two countries resolves a key stumbling block in resuming NAFTA negotiations between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
A deal reached between the United States and Mexico would not mean they have reached a final agreement on renegotiating NAFTA. But it could allow Canada to rejoin the talks, which may extend for several more weeks.
On Sunday, President Trump tweeted that “our relationship with Mexico is getting closer by the hour” and on Monday morning, he tweeted: “A big deal looking good with Mexico!”
Negotiations on rewriting the three-country NAFTA agreement began about a year ago.
The 24-year-old trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada generally prevents the three parties from imposing tariffs on imports from one another. But Trump has called the agreement “the worst deal maybe ever signed” and moved ahead with tariffs earlier this year.
In May, the United States imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum from much of the world, including Mexico. In response, Mexico slapped tariffs on $3 billion of US goods, including steel, pork, apples, potatoes, bourbon and different types of cheese.
