OTTAWA—The Trump administration has taken the first steps to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, setting out its desire to seek changes in areas such as government procurement, agriculture and telecommunications.

In a draft letter sent to Congress, Stephen Vaughn, the acting U.S. trade representative, details the administration’s ambition to redraw the 23-year-old trade deal in a way that delivers “timely and substantial” results for U.S. workers and consumers.

“This letter is the next step in strengthening our trading relationships in North America,” Vaughn writes in the letter obtained by the Star.

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While the letter picks up on some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist agenda, it also underscores the “shared borders” and “shared goals, shared histories, and shared challenges” that connect the three nations.

Canada and Mexico are the largest trading partners for the United States, sharing in trade that has more than tripled to some $1.07 trillion (U.S.) in goods a year since NAFTA was signed in 1994.

“For reasons of scale, improving the NAFTA has the greatest potential to benefit the workers, farmers, and firms of the United States,” the letter states.

But in a potentially worrisome note for both Canada and Mexico, Vaughn says that the “persistent U.S. deficit” in the trade of goods “demands that this administration take swift action to revise the relationship to reflect and respond to the new 21st century challenges.”

Asked about the letter Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Ottawa would work “constructively” with the Trump administration to “draw out even more benefits from this close working relationship.”

But the prime minister echoed past warnings that any protectionist moves by Washington risk damaging America’s economic interests.

Trudeau said he has stressed to the president that integration “means good jobs on both side of the border.”

“When an auto part can pass six times back and forth across the border before ending up in a finished product, that’s a level of integration that would be damaged by any thickening or imposition of tariffs of penalties at the border,” Trudeau said during a visit to Brampton.

“What has become very clear to us is that the Americans understand that the relationship with Canada is particular and they have to be very, very careful not to hurt themselves by moving forward on protectionist measures,” he said.

Trump’s focus has largely been on Mexico, in part over a trade deficit in goods and services of $49.2 billion (U.S.) in 2015, compared to a $15 billion (U.S.) trade deficit with Canada, according to the U.S. trade office.

The letter paints NAFTA as out of touch with today’s economy, saying that labour and the environment were an “afterthought” to the original agreement and that issues such as intellectual property rights, rules of origin and benefits to smaller business have all been improved in more recent pacts.

It states that the Trump administration seeks to boost economic growth “by making it more profitable to manufacture within the trading bloc.

“This strategy will promote job creation in the United States, strengthen our manufacturing base, and help expand our goods exports to each our trading partners,” it states.

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During his February meeting with Trudeau at the White House, Trump praised the current trade relationship with Canada and said, “we’ll be tweaking it,” a comment that some took to downplay the scale of potential changes.

But the eight-page letter sets out a broad range of areas that could be up for renegotiation, including:

• Seeking to level the playing field on tax treatment.

• Seeking rules of origin that support production and jobs in the United States.

• Pursuing a “comprehensive” approach to market access, including areas such as telecommunications and financial services.

• Seeking to reduce or eliminate nontariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports.

• Expanding market access for U.S. goods and services to government procurement markets in Mexico and Canada.

Since Trump won the U.S. election last November — on a platform that include a vow to either renegotiate or scrap NAFTA entirely — Canada has been on a mission to drive home the message that American firms and workers benefit from trade with their northern neighbour.

Trudeau declined to speculate on the potential outcome of trade negotiations, saying only that “freer, open trade” provides benefits to both countries.

“We need to continue to protect that extraordinary advantage,” Trudeau said.

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