Mexican official says NAFTA talks with the US have ‘concluded,’ deal announcement coming

A Mexican official told CNBC on Monday that trade talks with the U.S. have wrapped up, adding that an announcement could come later in the day.

Officials were in Washington trying to work out the issues as the Trump administration pushes to remake the 1994 agreement with the U.S., Mexico and Canada. There was some hope that a new NAFTA could be solidified before Mexico’s government turnover on Dec. 1.

The comment from the Mexican official came a day after Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said the two sides were likely “hours” away from reaching a deal. “We’ve continued making progress,” Guajardo told reporters.

President Donald Trump later tweeted that a deal with Mexico was “looking good.”

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The official also said the U.S. and Mexico have “reached understanding on key issues,” adding that Canada will now “re-engage” in the negotiations. Canada has remained on the sidelines of trade talks recently while the U.S. aimed at first striking a deal with Mexico.

“Once the bilateral issues get resolved, Canada will be joining the talks to work on both bilateral issues and our trilateral issues,” Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign minister, said Friday. “And will be happy to do that, once the bilateral US-Mexico issues have been resolved.”

The White House said Monday: “We have no update at this time.”

The negotiations have dragged on for months. Officials had hoped to wrap up last week but that was before the distraction caused by the guilty plea entered Tuesday by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the guilty verdict handed down against Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

The Mexican peso jumped 1 percent higher the dollar at 18.7. Shares of trade bellwethers Caterpillar and Boeing rose 2.3 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.