You can tell who holds the leverage by the nerves and twitches. Mexico says they would prefer trilateral trade talks including both Canada and the U.S.; Mexico also wants the talks trade talks to begin ASAP.

Secretary “Wolverine” Ross says bilateral is preferred and there’s no immediate hurry as he intends to notify congress over the next few weeks. {spit}

Ok, well, he really didn’t spit, but still. This is exciting stuff. By mid-summer we shall feel like kids peeking through the fence holes at the O.K. Corral….

(Via CNBC) Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday he hopes to start the formal process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement in coming weeks.

Under U.S. law, the government must tell Congress 90 days before it signs any new trade agreement. Ross said he wants to take the step of notifying lawmakers “sometime in the next couple of weeks.”

“We are now in the very early stages” of having the talks to change NAFTA, he said in a joint press conference with Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, Mexico’s economic minister.

President Donald Trump has aimed to quickly make good on his campaign promises, including scrapping or tweaking trade deals he deems bad for the United States. The president has slammed NAFTA, and Mexico’s role in it in particular, saying it has sapped manufacturing jobs from the U.S.

The administration has suggested it will try to seek bilateral trade deals rather than those with several nations. Ross said a revised NAFTA will either be two bilateral agreements with Mexico and Canada with “symmetrical provisions” or “one new” deal among the three countries. (read more)