Pence pitches US partnership to Americas as new Nafta nears

PRESIDENTS and prime ministers are convening for the Summit of the Americas on Friday and Saturday. Although US President Donald Trump has cancelled his own attendance because of the escalating situation in Syria, one of the highlights could potentially still be the announcement of an agreement, in principle, over a renegotiated North America Free Trade Deal (Nafta).

Mexico's Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal said on Monday that the Nafta renegotiation was 80 per cent likely to be concluded in April. And with Vice-President Mike Pence replacing Mr Trump at the summit, further updates could come soon.

Whether or not significant progress on Nafta is announced, the White House said that Mr Pence will urge fellow Americas leaders to engage Washington, not Beijing, on international trade. The argument will be that the United States should be the hemisphere's economic and political "partner of choice", even though China is now a top trade relationship for a number of the nations, including Brazil and Uruguay.