Round 3 of the NAFTA renegotiation wrapped up last Wednesday. Round 4 is scheduled for October 11–15 in the Washington, DC area. How have things been going so far? Here’s one assessment:

The United States, Canada and Mexico said at the end of a five-day session in Ottawa there had been progress made in the talks but acknowledged that much work remained to conclude the negotiations by the end of the year.

The next round might be a big one. Inside US Trade notes that “controversial ideas for investor-state dispute settlement and a sunset clause tied to the trade deficit” will be “finalized and proposed at the fourth round.”

The original plan was to do the renegotiation over 7 rounds in total, concluding this year. However, the idea of the three NAFTA countries reaching an agreement by the end of the year was always a bit unrealistic and now seems even more so. If all goes perfectly, perhaps they could do it by the spring or summer of next year, but it won’t be easy.

On October 26, we will have a full day conference here at Cato talking about a wide range of issues in the negotiations. You can register here. The full details are at the link, but here’s a brief rundown.

We’ll start with a panel made up of some of the original negotiators to explain why we had a NAFTA in the first place. What was the pre-NAFTA situation, and how did NAFTA improve things? We’ll then have a discussion panel that delves into the various criticisms of NAFTA over the years. Next, we’ll talk a bit of politics, focusing on the United States and Mexico, which are the places where the political process could present a hurdle to domestic ratification of a new NAFTA. We’ll then have a session on how to “modernize” NAFTA, that is, how to incorporate provisions that have been developed in other trade agreements over the 20+ years since NAFTA was signed (such as on e‑commerce and trade in services). Finally, we’ll have two breakout sessions, one on dispute settlement (a particularly contentious issue in the NAFTA renegotiation) and one on various product-specific issues that are being fought outside of NAFTA but could have an impact on the negotiations (trade in lumber, dairy, and aircraft).

We hope you can join us!