WASHINGTON—North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation talks have entered a “new, more intensive phase,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Washington on Friday.

Freeland spoke near the end of what she called a “constructive” day of meetings with her American and Mexican counterparts. None of them made any concrete announcements. Freeland would not offer details, saying she did not want to negotiate in public.

There have been numerous reports that the U.S. side is pushing for the announcement of some sort of agreement, even a partial “agreement in principle,” in time for next week’s Summit of the Americas in Peru. Freeland declined to address the prospects for any kind of quick agreement.

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“Intensive engagement is going to continue in the days to come,” Freeland said. She added, “We have always said we’re going to take the time it takes to get a good deal.”

Freeland confirmed that, as other Canadian government officials have said, the three sides have made recent progress on the automotive manufacturing issue that is central to the continental trade pact. She credited “creative” ideas from the U.S., which is known to have recently introduced a proposal that would replace a previous proposal that was loathed by Canada and Mexico.

Freeland’s American counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, decided to deal directly with her and Mexico’s Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo rather than hold a full-scale negotiating round between teams of negotiators. The Mexican government said late Friday that technical teams from the three countries would be meeting in the coming days.

Any announced agreement in the near future is very unlikely to mean that negotiations are actually nearing completion. The three countries have said that they have concluded negotiations on only six of the planned 30-plus chapters of the new NAFTA.

Jerry Dias, president of the Unifor union that represents Canadian auto workers, said he was skeptical any agreement in principle would emerge from the Washington talks.

“The bottom line is it doesn’t make sense to announce any sort of an agreement and work out the details later, it makes everybody look foolish. So I don’t think anybody’s going to bite,” Dias said.

“It’s all about the details. It’s like me buying a house from you and saying, ‘After we move in then we’ll negotiate the price.’”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was hopeful of “positive news” on NAFTA “in the coming times.” He referred to “timing pressures” faced by the U.S. and Mexico related to the U.S. congressional election in November and the Mexican presidential election in July.

“We know that there is a good deal out there to be had that works for our entire continent. We need to continue to negotiate firmly to make sure that Canadian interests are defended, so we’re pleased at the amount of chapters that have been closed, at the progress that has been made on a number of issues. But we’re going to keep going and demonstrate that we take this issue very seriously,” Trudeau said.

President Donald Trump disputed reports that he is in a rush to make a deal. He said Thursday that he has told his team, “Don’t rush it. Take it nice and easy. There’s no rush. We get it done right or we’ll terminate.”

The new U.S. proposal on automotive content would replace its previous proposal for a rule requiring that 50 per cent of a car’s content be made in the U.S. in order for the car to qualify for tariff-free treatment. The new proposal involves a wage credit toward the tariff-free threshold for North American content. In other words, automakers could meet the threshold, which the U.S. wants raised, by paying workers significantly higher wages — perhaps $15 (U.S.) per hour — than autoworkers currently make in Mexico.

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Low Mexican wages have been a chief complaint of Canadian and American unions. It is not yet clear, though, whether the Mexican government could accept a credit level so much higher than current wage levels.

“It’d be good for the U.S. and Canada. I’m not sure Mexico would see it that way because they’ve got a long way to go to figure out how they’re going to get to that floor,” said Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.

In addition, the Canadian government is resisting the U.S. proposal to raise the North American content threshold to 85 per cent, the publication Inside U.S. Trade reported. The current threshold is 62.5 per cent.

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