A Positive NAFTA Renegotiation

The Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Centre for International Governance Innovation cohosted a major conference on "A Positive NAFTA Renegotiation" on June 13, 2017, to discuss the process of updating the North American Free Trade Agreement and the impact on critical sectors. This conference is the first of two events, with the second scheduled for July 17 focused on broader NAFTA issues, including labor, environment, energy, and security. The goal is to set a practical agenda for the constructive renegotiation of NAFTA with proposals for areas where the agreement can be upgraded with tangible benefits to the United States.

The first panel, “Win-Win Goals for Updating NAFTA for the 21st Century,” featured C. Fred Bergsten, PIIE senior fellow and director emeritus, on the fallacy of targeting bilateral trade deficits; Gary Clyde Hufbauer, PIIE Reginald Jones Senior Fellow, on Canada-US trade relations for the long-term; and Antonio Ortiz-Mena, from the Albright Stonebridge Group, on Mexican perspectives on the NAFTA renegotiation.

The second panel provided indepth analysis of the impact of specific NAFTA modalities on critical sectors. Presenters included Cullen Hendrix, associate professor at the University of Denver and nonresident senior fellow at PIIE, on agriculture; Caroline Freund, PIIE senior fellow, on the auto sector; Wendy Dobson and Daniel Trefler from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto on foreign direct investment issues; and Jeffrey J. Schott, PIIE senior fellow, on procedures to modernize NAFTA process.