WASHINGTON — Chrystia Freeland was not happy.

With trilateral NAFTA talks having been on hiatus for most of the summer, the foreign affairs minister was in Berlin, barely one full day into a week-long diplomatic mission to Europe, when news emerged that the United States and Mexico had forged their own trade alliance in Canada’s absence.

By Aug. 28, Freeland was back in Washington, hosting a meeting at the Canadian embassy, where sources say she gave members of the Mexican negotiating team a piece of her mind.

“She brought them in for that purpose,” said one source familiar with the encounter.

By all indications, things haven’t improved much.

Three-way talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo have not taken place since, and none are imminent. Freeland is spending Monday in Ottawa for the return of Parliament.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep 11, 2018–Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions and Toshiba America Business Solutions celebrated the opening of their collective 38,000-square-foot building in Guadalajara, Mexico, yesterday with a ribbon-cutting attended by government officials, representatives of academic institutions, media and clients. Toshiba has invested 2 million U.S. dollars to further modernize the company’s products and solutions development center. The move signals Toshiba’s increasing presence in Mexico’s technology hub.

Jalisco Economic Development Secretary, José Palacios Jiménez; Head of the Investment Promotion Unit of the Municipality of Zapopan, Alfredo Aceves Fernández; and Consul-General of the Consulate-General of Japan, Osamu Hokida joined Toshiba’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Maccabe; Chief Operating Officer Gregg Margosian; Senior Vice President of Research and Development Mike Yeung as well as Vice President of Human Resources, and Administration James Fornabaio at the ribbon-cutting. The event also featured Toshiba clients Grupo Alsea, Costco and Kidzania.

“We were pleased to be joined by so many esteemed people today,” Maccabe stated. “Toshiba’s expansion in Mexico is a central element of our global growth strategy. Toshiba’s expert team in Guadalajara produces the products and services we offer worldwide and is instrumental to our company’s success.”

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions is the global market share leader in installed retail point of sale technology. Many of the most successful retail brands around the world, from smaller regional retailers to 60 percent of the top 25 global retailers, choose Toshiba products and services. In Mexico, Grupo Alsea, Costco and Kidzania have definitively improved the shopping experience for their vast array of loyal customers by implementing our electronic point of sale technology.

“The investments in the state of Jalisco have multiplied importantly,” said Palacios Jiménez. “Toshiba is a Japanese company that has demonstrated its trust in the state, which is an honor. The state of Jalisco has received 11,500 million dollars in foreign direct investment, a historic data. It’s precisely because of the trust of companies in Jalisco. In 2017 Jalisco generated the largest number of employment of any state in the country, also a historic number, 93,000 jobs. Everything is for you, we must only facilitate your investment experience.”

“Toshiba is a company that has reiterated its commitment to Mexico by generating jobs and training its people, as well as committing to the care of the environment,” Hokida stated. “I am convinced that this extension will be of great benefit for the Bajío region. I would like to reiterate the gratitude to the Mexican government for its support of Japanese companies. Currently there are 633 Japanese persons living in the state of Jalisco. I would like to point out that feel great here thanks to the warmth of the people.”

Toshiba Mexico has increased its staff from 48 to 298 employees since beginning operations in the country in 2006. Toshiba’s Guadalajara operation has also undergone significant growth by expanding from 36 to 164 employees since that time.

Toshiba repurposed furniture, IT equipment, lighting and even carpeting at the company’s new location, demonstrating its continued commitment to maintaining a more sustainable planet.

About Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions

As the market share leader in retail store technology, Toshiba’s Brilliant Commerce ™, enables retailers to deliver engaged shopping experiences, gain actionable insights and provide frictionless checkout.

With a global team of dedicated business partners, we deliver innovative commerce solutions that transform checkout, provide seamless consumer interactions and optimize retail operations that are changing the retail landscape. To learn more, visit toshibacommerce.com or engage on Twitter @toshibagcs.

About Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.

Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) provides multifunction printers, managed document services and digital signage for businesses of all sizes throughout the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. The company’s award-winning e-STUDIO ™ copiers and printers provide quality performance with the security businesses require.

Complementing its hardware offering is a full suite of document workflow, capture and security services including Encompass ™, the company’s industry-acclaimed Managed Print Services program. Encompass enables clients to print less and optimize workflow while improving energy efficiency.

TABS’ Ellumina ™ digital signage offering includes all of the hardware, software and services needed to implement dynamic and interactive digital signage installations.

TABS provides content creation and management, displays, integration, installation and project management services as well as financing for solutions ranging from a single screen to the biggest arenas and stadiums. For additional information, please visit business.toshiba.com.

Washington DC: President Donald Trump threatened Friday to slap tariffs on all of the Chinese goods imported into the United States, ramping up the already tense trade relations with Beijing amid ongoing talks with Canada and the EU. His comments, which contradicted the more diplomatic remarks earlier Friday from his top economic adviser, sent the stock market plunging amid fears of the economic damage that could result from the multi-front trade war he pursues.

The United States already has punitive tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in place and another $200 billion are “in the hopper” and “could take place very soon,” Trump said. But he told reporters traveling with him to Fargo, North Dakota that “behind that, there’s another $267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want.” That would cover virtually all the goods imported from the world’s second-largest economy.

“That totally changes the equation,” Trump said. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow just hours before said talks with Beijing were continuing to try to defuse the conflict, and that he was hopeful that a solution could be found. And there have been more positive signs in talks with North American partners as well as with the European Union.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer held another day of meetings with Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement, after reaching a deal last week with Mexico. However, Freeland left Washington without a deal in hand and the schedule for any future talks was uncertain.

Lighthizer is due to meet on Monday in Brussels with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to resolve the dispute ignited when Trump imposed steep duties on all steel and aluminum imports. And Freeland is due to attend a Liberal Party meeting on Wednesday and Thursday prior to the opening of Parliament.

– China a ‘bigger problem’ –

“China, right now, is a far bigger problem,” Trump said. “I’m being strong on China because I have to be.” The deadline for public comment on the next wave of punitive taxes on $200 billion of annual imports from China expired Thursday, so Trump could impose the tariffs immediately.

He previously had threatened to hit 100 percent of imports from China if the country failed to address US concerns over theft of US technology and barriers to American goods and investments. Trump has had Beijing in his crosshairs since he took office and has applied increasing pressure to try to convince it to change its policies, allow more US imports and reduce the $335-billion US trade deficit with China.

China so far has retaliated dollar-for-dollar with tariffs of its own on US goods but since it imports less than $200 billion in goods a year from the United States, it has run out of room to match the punitive measures. But businesses warn there are other ways China can strike back, through regulations and other administrative means, or even through sales of its large holdings of US Treasury debt.

The last effort at a negotiated solution came in late August with meetings between low-level officials, but nothing came of it. In Beijing, China’s Commerce Ministry said Thursday it was ready to retaliate.

“If the US dogmatically implements any new tariff measures against China, China will have to take the necessary countermeasures,” commerce spokesman Gao Feng told reporters. Those steps include slapping tariffs on $60 billion of US imports, Gao said.

– NAFTA talks 24/7 –

Trump said talks with Canada to revise the 25-year-old NAFTA were “moving along” but again called the agreement “one of the worst trade deals in history.” “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time. Now, they’ve got to treat us fairly,” he said, and again threatened to impose duties on cars produced in Canada.

Last week, Washington reached a new deal with Mexico and is pushing to sign a revamped NAFTA before December 1, when the next president takes over in Mexico City. Following meetings on Friday, Freeland told reporters the issues were “complicated” but that officials were working “really at this point 24/7.”

However, she seemed to have a different position than Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo on the relationship between the NAFTA talks and the US steel and aluminum tariffs. Guajardo said Thursday it would be “very strange” to sign a new NAFTA “when this trade war is pending.”

“So the idea would be to table a solution to these trade aggressions before signing,” Guajardo said at a conference in Mexico City. But Freeland said on Thursday the metals tariffs and NAFTA talks “are entirely separate” – although she again called them “unjustified and illegal.

“The NAFTA talks between Washington and Ottawa have been hung up over Canada’s insistence on retaining a dispute resolution mechanism in Chapter 19 and US objections over Ottawa’s tight controls over the dairy market.

As Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador prepares to take office, the trajectory of Brazil’s Left under former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offers lessons on the risks of compromising to appease elites.

he current political moment in Mexico, with Andrés Manuel López Obrador soon to take office as president, has much in common with a similar moment in Brazil—when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected to that country’s highest office in 2002. Both Lula and López Obrador represented a left-wing shift in their respective countries’ politics, which generated anxiety among elites. Both campaigned on promises to tackle corruption and economic inequality. And perhaps most important, in both moments, many in Brazil and Mexico hoped that their incoming governments would enact true social change.

These parallels beg the question of what Mexico’s next president can learn from his Brazilian counterpart. One lesson is that López Obrador should question the efficacy of following a moderate, centrist path of enacting change. Recent developments in Brazil show that such a political approach, based in avoiding structural problems and seeking compromise with elites, empowered Lula’s opponents. Now, Lula’s opposition is dismantling the reforms his government made when he was in power.

Prior to becoming president, Lula was central to the mass protests that ended Brazil’s military government in the early 1980s. His Workers’ Party (PT) was filled with other leftist unionists as well as radical clergy members and social movement leaders. From its start in the late 1970s, the PT looked to communist Cuba for inspiration. Yet, over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, the PT embraced centrist positions to draw in more voters. Instead of demanding socialism, Lula and the PT sought to improve Brazil’s social welfare programs. And in seeking compromise to ease the concerns of business elites, Lula selected José Alencar, a business leader of the center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), as his running mate in 2002. Once in office, Lula accommodated instead of confronted elites over controversial policies such as agrarian reform. This is why when compared to his predecessors, Lula redistributed less land to the social movements that had supported his electoral ambitions since the early 1980s. Still, while Lula was in power, Brazil experienced many progressive changes, including a reduction in economic inequality, a growth in the country’s middle class, and relative political stability.

The story of Lula’s and the PT’s moderate evolution does not end well for the Brazilian Left. Lula is now in jail, convicted in the largest corruption scandal in Brazilian history, which has also implicated and investigated dozens of representatives from the PT and many of Brazil’s other parties. Lula and his supporters claim the corruption charges are politically motivated and designed to sabotage his run for president, which polls indicate he would win. Furthermore, many have noted the dubious measures to secure Lula’s conviction, including the use of unconstitutional means to acquire evidence and a lack of reliable testimony. What Lula’s case shows is that clearly separating political loyalties from the rule of law is next to impossible in Brazil’s increasingly polarized society.

Lula’s downfall occurred after his successor, Dilma Rousseff, elected president with the PT in 2010, was removed from office in 2016 after a politically-charged Senate impeachment trial led by her opponents. Among those who ousted her from power was her vice-president, Michel Temer. Following Lula’s accommodationist style, Rousseff chose the PMDB’s Temer as her running mate. When Brazil’s economy began to stall in 2014, Temer and others from his party distanced themselves from Dilma, in an opportunistic move to secure the presidency. The PMDB eventually voted to abandon its electoral coalition with the PT, costing Rousseff vital support in staving off the impeachment bid. Currently, Temer’s government intends to cut spending for social security and privatize airports, the postal delivery service, and public utilities.

The political direction of the Brazilian Left is unclear. Lula, Brazil’s most popular politician, was planning on running once again for president in this year’s October elections before he was sent to jail. Now, it is uncertain if his candidacy is viable as multiple legal attempts to free him from jail have failed—though efforts are still unfolding. Regardless, the PT has decided to unite behind his run for office. Still, even if Lula can win and take office, what will be his approach? While many on the left have mobilized to support him, it is unclear if Lula will return to his former radical self who sought sweeping redistributive economic reforms. Meanwhile, when Lula is excluded from the race, the presidential frontrunner is the far-right nationalist, Jair Bolsonaro, who not only openly praises dictatorship, but also routinely uses misogynistic, racist, and xenophobic language to mobilize support.

What’s the lesson? Lula and the PT moderated their political positions over the course of a few decades. Now, the party’s accomplishments are being undone by some of the very actors that Lula and Rousseff accommodated. Today, some of Brazil’s most repugnant right-wing leaders are gaining support as the country’s political Left struggles.

Lessons for Mexico

Shifting the focus to Mexico, López Obrador’s incoming government has the potential to make significant changes to Mexican society. This is possible due to the nature of López Obrador’s electoral coalition and the disdain that Mexicans have for their governmental institutions.

López Obrador’s political party, the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), the dominant player in the Together We Will Make History (Juntos Haremos Historia) coalition, is new to representative government. The coalition features two other political parties, the Social Encounter Party (PES) and the Labor Party (PT). López Obrador launched MORENA after his second failed presidential run in 2012 with the the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). His break from the PRD came as its party leaders accepted Enrique Peña Nieto as President in 2012, despite allegations of electoral fraud. MORENA first successfully ran candidates for office in 2015 when it won 35 seats out of the 500 in Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies. At this time, none of Mexico’s 128 senators were from MORENA. The PES and the Mexican Labor Party were also minor players under the previous government, with just 19 senators and 12 representatives between the two parties.

Besides winning the presidency with 53 percent of the popular vote, when López Obrador assumes power on December 1, his electoral coalition will have 70 seats in the Senate, with MORENA taking 55, the Labor Party claiming six, and PES carrying nine. Additionally, the coalition in the Mexican lower house will have 303 of the chamber’s 500 seats, with MORENA earning 185 seats, the Labor Party taking 62, and representatives from the PES occupying 56 seats. In just three years, these parties went from fringe actors to controlling Mexico’s legislative and executive branches of government.

Meanwhile, Mexicans have shown an overwhelming disdain for current president Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who at one point had a 17 percent approval rating. More tellingly, in a survey conducted across 38 different countries in 2017, the Pew Research Center found that 93 percent of Mexicans were not satisfied with their country’s democratic institutions. Their discontent is particularly focused on the established political parties, which include the PRI, the PRD, as well as the National Action Party (PAN). More so than any other people in Latin America, Mexicans are ready for dramatic social change.

This veritable collapse—principally in terms of the faith that the people have in Mexico’s traditional governing parties—presents an opportunity for López Obrador’s somewhat undisciplined electoral coalition. Compared to Lula’s PT, which steadily moderated its political approach for decades, MORENA is a relatively new political actor. MORENA drew many different people into its ranks in a short period of time, including members of the PRD, PAN, and the PRI, who flocked into MORENA’s ranks earlier this year on more than one occasion. One of the parties in López Obrador’s coalition, PES, is an evangelical conservative party that opposes marriage equality and abortion rights. It also includes soccer star-turned-politician Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who just became the governor of the state of Morelos, who was accused of electoral fraud two years ago. Add to this political mix MORENA’s many committed leftists who have continued to express support to Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro. Of course, there is Obrador himself, who isn’t quite a political outsider. Such diversity begs for unity in terms of policy and ideology. The opportunity is for MORENA to provide direction for its electoral coalition, as well as for Mexico. What has the potential to bind together the representatives that will work in López Obrador’s incoming government is his promise to transform Mexico by ending corruption, engineering domestic economic development, and improving public safety. Such goals are vague, but also potentially revolutionary.

López Obrador’s objectives call for seriously questioning orthodox approaches to law enforcement, economics, and governance. The need is for bold experiments in political action, which may entail land redistribution and new agricultural investment initiatives, reversing Peña Nieto’s neoliberal energy reforms, breaking up the few companies that dominate Mexico’s telecommunications industry, as well as amending the Constitution. More so than any other country in the region, Mexico is ready to consider such changes, as MORENA’s electoral coalition has the chance to advance a bold agenda given its electoral majorities in both chambers. At the same time, such hopes could easily be dashed. López Obrador’s cabinet selections and some of the policy proposals thus far display a centrist, orthodox approach. Others have noted that Obrador has neither seriously threatened private property, nor has a radical program to confront poverty. Apparent agreements with key elites in Mexico’s business community, likewise, parallel Lula’s efforts to calm powerful economic players through making concessions. Still, Brazil’s example illustrates that to pursue centrist policy objectives does not lead to real and lasting social change. Following the political status quo would squander this unique opportunity in Mexican history. When the left took power and Brazil hoped for change, Lula made compromises. Now, Brazil is suffering. The lesson for Mexico: centrism and accommodation fail to generate true change. The present moment is the time for bold political experiments. The Mexican people are ready. The question is—will AMLO deliver?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held firm Tuesday to the lines drawn in sand three decades ago as the latest push to preserve a North American free-trade agreement – one that still includes Canada – was poised to unfold.

Trudeau said Canadians will not sign onto a deal that does not include a dispute resolution mechanism and exemptions for cultural industries – two positions that were among the pillars of the original 1988 Canada-U.S. free trade deal.

The prime minister staked out Canada’s ground as a fresh Oct. 1 deadline and the encroaching American midterm elections cast a shadow over Wednesday’s resumption of negotiations in Washington. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is to resume talks with U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer, whom she has praised as a “good faith” negotiator in the face of President Donald Trump’s Twitter barrages.

Faced with an unpredictable U.S. president ready to strike on Twitter, Trudeau said the dispute resolution mechanism in Chapter 19 ensures trade rules are followed.

“We’ve said from the very beginning that we need a dispute resolution mechanism like Chapter 19 and we will hold firm on that,” Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver.

“We will not sign a deal that is bad for Canadians and, quite frankly, not having a Chapter 19 to ensure that the rules are followed would be bad for Canadians.”

Chapter 19 allows for independent panels to resolve disputes between companies. The Trump administration views it as an infringement of U.S. sovereignty.

It was the hill that former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney was willing to die on during the final hours of the original Canada-U.S. free trade deal in 1988. After consulting with Mulroney over the weekend, Trudeau made clear he shares that view.

The prime minister also said his government won’t sign an updated free trade accord with the U.S. and Mexico if the deal doesn’t continue exemptions for Canada’s cultural industries, which aims to protect Canada’s publishing and broadcast industries.

That too was entrenched in the original Canada-U.S. free trade deal that preceded NAFTA. Giving up the exemptions would be tantamount to giving up Canadian sovereignty and identity, Trudeau said.

“It is inconceivable to Canadians that an American network might buy Canadian media affiliates, whether it’s newspapers or TV stations or TV networks,” he said.

“So we’ve made it very clear that defending that cultural exemption is something that is fundamental to Canadians.”

Canada and the U.S. need to present a text to the U.S. Congress by Oct. 1 in order to join the deal the Trump administration signed with Mexico last week, trade analysts say.

The overall goal is to reach a deal by Dec. 1 so Congress can give its approval to a new NAFTA before Mexico’s new president takes office.

Otherwise, Trump is threatening to move ahead on a deal with Mexico that excludes Canada.

Canada enters Wednesday’s talks with some strength on preserving Chapter 19 because American companies need its anti-dumping safeguards more than Canada’s, according to Toronto trade lawyer Cyndee Todgham Cherniak.

Foreign companies seeking relief through Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal are often repeatedly coming up empty handed, said Todgham Cherniak, a former federal tax court adviser.

She said that’s because a recent ruling by the court emphasized that it did not have jurisdiction under the Special Import Measures Act to change so-called “dumping margins.”

Canadian negotiators are also trying to protect Canada’s dairy sector from American demands in NAFTA renegotiations.

The two sides broke off talks Friday as Trump formally notified Congress of the deal with Mexico, saying Canada might join later.

But in recent days he has become more aggressive towards Canada on Twitter – bluster that some trade experts are dismissing as a predictable negotiating tactic.

On Saturday, Trump said there is “no political necessity” to keep Canada in NAFTA and he warned Congress not to interfere or he would kill the pact.

U.S. business and labour leaders have warned Trump not to dump Canada from NAFTA.

Trump’s “bombastic rhetoric” ought to be ignored because he has no power to override the opposition in Congress to exclude Canada, and he needs 60-days notice to terminate NAFTA, said Derek Holt, vice-president and head of capital markets at Scotiabank Global Economics.

Holt wrote in a Tuesday note that Congress will not allow Trump “to skirt past Canada in NAFTA negotiations given the long line-ups of members of Congress – Democrats and Republicans – saying they will not support a bilateral deal” with Mexico.

With the U.S. midterms eight weeks away, and Trump facing pressure to maintain the Republican hold on the House and Senate, the influence of Congress will permeate the resumption of Wednesday’s talks.

Congress must approve any rewrite of the deal and could refuse to endorse an agreement that excludes Canada. But that’s not set in stone, said Dan Ujczo, an Ohio-based trade lawyer with Dickinson Wright.

“Congress will support Canada throughout September,” he said. “After that, Congress will have a tough choice to make in terms of going forward with a good deal with Mexico, opening Mexico’s agricultural markets as we brace for the long haul with China.”

The U.S. and Mexico reportedly reached an agreement on a new trade deal on Monday, bringing months of talks on a replacement for NAFTA to an end.

Trump hinted on Monday morning that a trade deal with Mexico could be reached shortly.

“A big deal looking good with Mexico!” Trump tweeted.

 The president’s comments echo those of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who said Sunday a new trade agreement was nearing.

“I think it’d be very soon,” McCarthy, R-Calif., told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We’d vote on it in the next Congress.”

He noted the need for a “modernization” of the trade agreement, which was enacted in 1994 under President Bill Clinton. The deal created a trilateral trade bloc between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

NAFTA has come under fierce scrutiny by President Trump since his time on the campaign trail, even calling the agreement the “worst trade deal ever made.” Attempts to form a new pact faltered numerous times between the three countries, and talks with Mexico have been focused on creating new rules for the auto industry. Trump has argued that lower wages for employees in Mexico have cost jobs at General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler – “The Big Three” – all of which have production sites in Mexico. The president said in June that the deal could remain trilateral or could be renegotiated into two separate arrangements.

Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told reporters on Sunday a deal between the U.S. and Mexico was nearing completion.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Mexican trade negotiators are close to squaring away bilateral differences on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and will resume talks on Monday morning, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Sunday.

Earlier, Guajardo told reporters the two sides were likely “hours” away from reaching a common position, but in the evening he said more work still needed to be done, and that talks would start again on Monday at 9 a.m. local time in Washington.

“We’ve continued making progress,” Guajardo said.

The Mexico-U.S. discussions have focused on crafting new rules for the automotive industry, which U.S. President Donald Trump has put at the heart of his drive to rework the 24-year-old pact he says has been a “disaster” for American workers.

Canada has sat out the most recent phase of the year-long discussions, and once it rejoined the talks, the three sides would need to work for at least another week, Guajardo said.

Leaving the offices of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer late on Sunday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Canada would return once bilateral issues were resolved. “But we haven’ve finished this stage yet,” he said.

The two sides have been gradually nearing agreement on autos, and one source close to the negotiations said at the weekend there was now “little” separating the two.

Industry sources say they are close to agreeing on raising the regional automotive content threshold for tariff-free access under NAFTA to around 75 percent from 62.5 percent.

Still, the Trump administration has been seeking to impose a cap on Mexican car and SUV exports to the United States that could be sent duty-free or at a 2.5 percent tariff, complicating the auto talks, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Two automakers say the United States want Mexican exports of cars and SUVs to be capped at about 2 million units, up from some 1.77 million exported in 2017, excluding pickup trucks.

Including pickups, Mexico exported more than 2.3 million vehicles to the United States last year.

Mexico’s economy ministry declined to comment. A USTR representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump said on Saturday that Washington could reach agreement with Mexico “soon” as the chief trade negotiator of Mexico’s incoming president signaled possible solutions to energy rules and a contentious U.S. “sunset clause” demand.

Since Mexico’s July 1 presidential election, the bilateral talks have been complicated by divisions between the incoming and outgoing Mexican administrations over energy policy.

The team of leftist Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has resisted enshrining the 2013-14 opening of the oil and gas sector enacted by outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto in the new NAFTA, people close to the talks say.

Long skeptical of foreign companies entering the Mexican oil industry, Lopez Obrador opposed Pena Nieto’s energy reform.

Jesus Seade, the incoming Mexican government’s chief NAFTA negotiator, said the issue had been “ironed out” at the NAFTA talks, without going into detail. He said this week it was not a “substantive” matter and that Lopez Obrador’s team had wanted to check the terms were consistent with the Mexican constitution.

If three-way talks run into September, final approval of the deal in Mexico will likely pass to Lopez Obrador, because under fast track authority, the U.S. Congress needs 90 days’ notice to vote on a new NAFTA once the renegotiation is finished.

Lopez Obrador is due to take office on Dec. 1.

WASHINGTON – Foreign-brand automakers with U.S. plants do not support Trump administration rules to raise the amount of local content in North American-made vehicles, a group representing companies including Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co. has told key U.S. lawmakers.

Talks between Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are due to resume Tuesday in Washington to try to resolve remaining bilateral issues so that Canada, which has been sidelined for weeks from the negotiations, can return to the bargaining table.

The automakers’ position was in a previously unreported Aug. 16 letter from their “Here for America” group to top trade-focused members of Congress. The letter could raise resistance to a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement from lawmakers in southern states, where foreign manufacturers have built auto plants.

“We remain concerned that, without further clarifications, assurances and modifications, many of those companies producing vehicles in multiple states will not be in a position to support legislation implementing a NAFTA 2.0,” the group said in the letter, signed by John Bozzella, president of the Association of Global Automakers.

Automotive experts have said that some foreign brand automakers with smaller North American manufacturing footprints and fewer U.S. research and development staff may have difficulty meeting the more stringent content requirements for years.

The group said its members, which also include Honda Motor Co., Daimler AG, BMW AG, Nissan Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., Subaru Corp. and Volvo, a unit of China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, account for nearly 50 percent of U.S. vehicle production.

At the same time, the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Detroit’s Big Three automakers is “encouraged by the direction of the discussions,” said Matt Blunt, who heads the trade group.

“We share the administration’s overall goals of strengthening U.S. auto-manufacturing and creating jobs and given the importance of NAFTA to U.S. industry we urge the negotiators to quickly complete the negotiations,” added Blunt, whose group represents General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.

The United States and Mexico are closing in on a bilateral deal on autos that would lift the requirement for North American content in regionally made vehicles to at least 70 percent from the current 62.5 percent.

The deal is expected to require that some 40 percent of the value come from high wage locations paying at least $16 an hour, meaning the United States and Canada, a Mexican source close to the talks said.

United States Trade Representative officials have been meeting in recent days with individual automakers to secure support for potential changes, according to auto industry sources.

A USTR spokeswoman declined comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who launched the renegotiation of the 1994 pact a year ago, has said he wants the reworked deal to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, particularly in autos and auto parts.

Other key unresolved issues include the phase-in time for the new automotive rules to take effect and whether the U.S. demand for a “sunset” clause that forces a renegotiation every five years is adopted, making long-term investment decisions more difficult.

The letter from the ad-hoc “Here for America” group also raised concerns that national security tariffs on autos, auto parts, steel and aluminum would undermine the benefit of a NAFTA agreement.

MIAMI, Aug. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — With a vision toward empowering Mexico’s emerging middle class through more transparent lending solutions, a team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and executives with previous experience at leading international online lending companies, including Enova International, 4Finance and Cream Finance, recently formed Boom Credit, Inc.

The company launched its initial loan offering in May, and in less than three months has grown to over 50,000 registered users. Among its registered users, 35% requested the loan for their own small business needs. This is consistent with Mexican labor statistics which reflect that only 53% of adults maintain formal employment (ENIF, 2015). As a result, the majority of Mexico’s population is either unbanked or underbanked, while holding negative views of traditional banking.

Boom Credit seeks to address the greatest pain points of the emerging Mexican middle-class consumer by emphasizing convenience through a mobile-first product, empowerment through financial educational tools, and loyalty through rewards for positive credit behavior.

“We believe that offering solutions to facilitate people’s quick access to credit through their mobile devices is the first step. Second, by fostering loyalty through financial education and good consumer behavior, we believe that we can help consumers build a better financial future,” said Mariano Zadeh, CEO and Co-Founder of Boom Credit.

Paco De Vega, Director of Boom Credit Mexico and Co-Founder, commented, “Mexico is the largest and fastest growing fintech market in Latin America. We believe that our experience in the sector, combined with our unique educational approach and technology, will allow us to offer a more inclusive solution to Mexican consumers that favors their economic development.”

Boom Credit is Based in Miami, FL and prior to its May 2018 launch, raised a $5MM seed financing round from entrepreneurs with extensive background in consumer technology and emerging markets. In addition to participation by local entrepreneurs, the Company’s Advisory Board includes Timothy Ho, former CEO of Enova International.

Ho stated, “Boom Credit has assembled a team of driven, talented professionals with a unique understanding of online consumer finance and have created a compelling value proposition that should resonate among underserved consumers across Latin America. I am honored with the opportunity to serve on the board of advisors of this promising company.”

Days after President Trump touted trade negotiations with Mexico – White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett said on Monday negotiators from the U.S. and Mexico are “very, very close” to a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“The team has been working overtime, late nights, going through what I would almost characterize as the final details,” he told “Mornings with Maria.”

While Hassett stayed tight-lipped on details, Trump tweeted on Friday that a deal with the U.S.’ third-largest trading partner – after China and Canada – is “coming along nicely” and any deal must take care of autoworkers and farmers.

“You should stay tuned because right now it’s closer than it’s been since I’ve been here,” Hassett, a former resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who was appointed as Trump’s chief economist in early 2017, added.