White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that NAFTA is "not yet" dead after negotiators disbanded a contentious round of talks Tuesday and agreed to meet again next month.
"But as the president said, it's a bad deal," she told reporters at the daily briefing. "He wants to make sure we have a deal that benefits American workers.
"That's what this administration is focused on."
Negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico agreed to meet next month after openly criticizing one another's positions and acknowledging in a joint statement that "new proposals had created significant conceptual gaps" among them, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The proposals, made by the U.S., reflected the Trump administration's efforts to rewrite NAFTA to reduce American trade deficits and increase job and manufacturing growth at home.
But Canada and Mexico viewed them as protectionist measures that would undermine NAFTA's value, seriously disrupting supply chains and regional economic activity, according to the Times.
"The agreement has become very lopsided and needs to be rebalanced," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement to reporters after the meetings ended in Arlington, Va.
"Frankly, I am surprised and disappointed by the resistance to change from our negotiating partners."
The fifth round of talks will begin Nov. 17 in Mexico, according to the Times.
Regarding the U.S. efforts, Sanders told reporters Wednesday: "We're going to continue to push forward — and if we can't get there, we'll let you know what the changes are."
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