Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Revised to reflect the Trump administration's decision to move forward on the new NAFTA deal despite Canada not yet coming on board.

WASHINGTON — A breakthrough week in negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement ended in an inconclusive thud Friday after tense talks between the U.S. and Canada didn't yield a deal — at least yet.

Canada refused to accede to President Donald Trump's pressure to reach a preliminary pact by Friday, only days after Mexican officials agreed to concessions in what they've called a trade entendimiento — or "understanding" — between the U.S. and Mexico.

But the U.S. and its northern neighbor resolved to continue talks next week on NAFTA, a trade accord critical to the Texas economy.

Trump told Congress of his intent to "sign a trade agreement with Mexico — and Canada, if it is willing — 90 days from now." That caveat could be critical to Trump avoiding severe complications, given that key businesses and lawmakers have stressed the need for a trilateral deal.

What is clear is that the high-stakes drama surrounding the 24-year-old trade agreement is unlikely to end anytime soon, with many stakeholders in Texas and beyond tempering expectations in a nod to the numerous hurdles that lie ahead.

“What we are hoping comes out, after all the drama, is something that is as close as possible to the status quo,” James Savage, president of the Canada-Texas Chamber of Commerce, said ahead of Friday's activity.

The countries still need to fill in details on the scraps of information released so far. Business and labor leaders need to weigh in on changes sure to produce winners and losers. Lawmakers in all three countries need to give their blessing during contentious election and transition seasons.

And never discount Trump's unpredictable negotiating style or his penchant for poking at America's trading partners.

A day after Trump and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto lavished praise on each other for reaching a deal, the U.S. president picked an old wound by saying that a border wall on America’s southern border “will ultimately be paid for by Mexico.”

Then on Friday came a leak of dismissive, off-the-record comments Trump made about Canada, a relationship-roiling release that Trump bemoaned but said at least let Canada know where he stands.

“Here we are all over again,” said Tony Payan, director of the Mexico Center at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “Trump cannot stay quiet.”

Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2018

Trump’s sprint to untangle NAFTA negotiations reflects the political calendar in Mexico, where leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will assume the presidency in December.

U.S. trade law requires Trump to give Congress a 90-day notice of his intent to enter a new deal before it can be signed. So the notification needed to go out Friday for Peña Nieto — and his more conventional views — to affix his signature.

Trump showed no hesitation in bullying Canada into that timeline, even as Ottawa remains concerned over provisions involving dairy and dispute settlement systems.

But one critical distinction is that the trade agreement itself doesn’t have to be made public until 60 days prior to its signing. Canadian officials could then likely continue hammering away at disputed details over the coming days and weeks, experts said, and still join the deal in time.

"We know that a win-win-win agreement is within reach," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday.

Moreover, Canada has many powerful allies in the U.S. and in Texas.

“It’s not clear to me how much leverage he has to push this through,” said Katheryn Russ, a trade expert at the University of California, Davis, referring to Trump’s take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum to Canada.

Canada is often overlooked in the deep ties that Texas has formed as a result of NAFTA.

Mexico is, by far, Texas' biggest trading partner. But Canada is second on that list, thanks to trade in important goods like oil and gas, plastics and car parts. Hundreds of Canadian-owned businesses dot the map in Texas.

Savage, the Canada-Texas chamber chief, said anyone in Dallas looking for proof should head out for dinner.

Some major Canadian restaurant brands have started using North Texas as their test market for the U.S., an arrangement that’s eased by NAFTA and other ties. Earls at Legacy West in Plano. Moxie’s at The Crescent in Dallas. Boston’s Pizza in Irving.

It’s more than just eats, too.

Sen. John Cornyn is among the more vocal lawmakers touting Canada’s role in NAFTA as essential. The Republican said this week on a conference call with Texas reporters that the NAFTA countries have “become an integrated economic unit.”

“To exclude Canada would be self-inflicted harm,” he said, while allowing that a “deal with Mexico is better than no deal.”

Even parts of the U.S.-Mexico accord seem predicated on a three-party deal, experts said.

Take the idea that cars would need 75 percent of their content made in North America — up from 62.5 percent — to qualify for duty-free treatment in the NAFTA countries. They would also need to have 40 percent to 45 percent of content made in factories where workers are paid at least $16 an hour.

The U.S. demanded those tougher standards to boost workers who’ve complained that cheap foreign labor is siphoning off jobs and lowering wages.

Mexico estimates that 70 percent of the cars made there meet the new rules, even before taking into account more generous definitions of eligible content. But the Honda Fit, the Volkswagen Jetta and the Chevrolet Trax are among the models that could be hit.

That list would be longer if Canadian-made content isn’t part of the equation, forcing more automakers to choose among shifting production, passing along a 2.5 percent tariff to consumers or shrinking their offerings in the U.S., experts said.

“Prices go up,” said Kristin Dziczek, an expert at the Center for Automotive Research in Michigan. “Choice goes down.”

Those kind of details are paramount to automakers like Toyota, which has its North American headquarters in Plano.

The company's production in Mexico is fairly limited, representing less than 7 percent of its North American output, Toyota said last year. And its Mexican-built Yaris, for instance, appears likely to meet at least the new content rules, according to government data.

So it remains to be seen if the changes end up being “much ado about nothing” or not, Dziczek said.

Pres. Trump says he plans to call Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau to negotiate on trade after reaching "understanding" with Mexico.



"With Canada, frankly, the easiest thing we can do is to tariff their cars coming in," Trump says https://t.co/p8uxlRn573 pic.twitter.com/D7UFYrYqMf — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 27, 2018

The lack of specifics over the nascent trade accord is not that unusual, since it allows negotiators flexibility. But it also means major obstacles, even those big enough to derail the delicate negotiations, could remain hidden from public scrutiny.

One unresolved area is NAFTA’s system for settling disputes between companies and governments.

That setup is a big deal to Texas energy companies, which have found the tool critical to investing in foreign countries. Trump aides said the deal with Mexico would curtail the system, while keeping the status quo for sectors, including energy, that have direct government contracts.

Joshua Zive, a Bracewell trade attorney who works with energy companies, said on Thursday that “cautious optimism is the order of the day right now from the energy side.” But he said it won’t be clear if the provisions are sufficient “until we get this committed to writing.”

That’s true for the industry. But also for Congress, which would have to vote on the trade deal in the coming months.

So Zive, echoing others, recommended taking a long view on whatever progress was made this week among the three countries, particularly in the scope of the broader trade skirmish in which Trump has needled Canada, Mexico and others with metal tariffs.

“It’s one step along the way,” he said, referring to the timeline laid out in trade law. “It really gets them 30 more days than it gets them to an agreement.”