OTTAWA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could soon be signed, David MacNaughton, Canada's ambassador to the United States, said here on Sunday.
"It's good we are working hard," MacNaughton told reporters after leaving Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office in Ottawa.
"We've been at it for a long time so, you know, I'm cautiously optimistic but we'll see," MacNaughton said.
The ambassador's remarks came when negotiators from Canada and the United States are working hard to secure a trade deal hours out from a U.S.-imposed deadline of Oct. 1.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and senior members of Trudeau's team meeting in Ottawa connected via video link to Canadian officials in the United States, negotiating some final details of the trade deal, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported Sunday.
The CBC said the two sides are narrowing in on a resolution to some sticking points that have long stood in the way of a deal: greater U.S. access to Canada's dairy market, which is heavily protected by a system of supply management, and the maintenance of some sort of dispute resolution process.
Canada has sought to maintain Chapter 19 of the original NAFTA, the dispute settlement mechanism used to challenge anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases.
What remains less clear is how Canada's demands for relief from punitive U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum exports will be resolved.
Those tariffs were levied on "national security" grounds using presidential authority granted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which gives the U.S. president broad powers to impose tariffs without consulting Congress.
Canada responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's move with counter-tariffs on billions of dollars worth of U.S. goods.
Trump said Canada must sign onto the text of the updated NAFTA by midnight EDT on Sunday (0400 GMT Monday) or face exclusion from the trilateral pact, which includes Mexico.
Trump has repeatedly blamed NAFTA for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs and wants major changes to the pact, which underpins 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars in annual trade.
