Kirsten Hillman, deputy ambassador of the Embassy of Canada, is joined by Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Gerónimo Gutiérrez at the Pro Summit on Tuesday. | Rod Lamkey Jr./POLITICO NAFTA talks can wrap up by end of year, Mexican ambassador says

Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Gerónimo Gutiérrez expressed confidence Tuesday that the NAFTA negotiation can be “wrapped up by the end of the year.”

Speaking at the POLITICO Pro Summit, Gutiérrez said he was “optimistic about what we’ve heard” from Mexico’s president-elect, the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his transition team. Last week, following meetings in Mexico with high-level officials in the Trump administration, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said that negotiators from current President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration will work “in close coordination” with López Obrador’s transition team.


López Obrador was elected on July 1 and is due to take office on Dec. 1. News of Mexico’s efforts to establish continuity between the incoming and outgoing governments in the NAFTA renegotiation cleared the way for talks to resume again at high levels.

“I do believe we have a fair chance of getting this wrapped up by the end of the year,” Gutiérrez told Pro Trade’s Doug Palmer during a discussion at the summit.

The NAFTA talks have bogged down in recent months over a number of controversial proposals introduced by the Trump administration, including on automotive rules of origin and a “sunset clause” that would allow for the deal to be terminated in five years if the three countries do not agree to renew it.

“There have been technical meetings going on. I think that’s positive,” Gutiérrez said, adding: “There has not been a re-engagement thus far at a ministerial level, but I would emphasize that contacts will be ongoing.”