The finance ministers of Mexico and Canada on Thursday shared their joint optimism about the upcoming third round of NAFTA renegotiation talks, set for Sept. 23-27 in Ottawa.
"Certainly, our wish is for the meetings which will take place in Canada to constitute an important step in showing the people of our three countries that we can work together," said Canadian Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, at a press conference in Mexico City.
According to Morneau, the first two rounds, in Washington and Mexico City, were "very constructive" and that NAFTA has opportunities to improve.
Morneau was accompanied by Mexico's finance minister, Jose Antonio Meade, who shared his counterpart's optimism and called NAFTA one of the most successful commercial deals in the world.
"We are optimistic that there are spaces to make the NAFTA renegotiation a space which improves the chance of creating prosperity in the three countries," added Meade.
He said that the first two rounds had seen good will between the negotiators of Canada, Mexico and the U.S., leading him to be confident in a good result being achieved.
Canada represents Mexico's second largest global market, with exports ranging above 10 billion U.S. dollars a year.
The three nations are updating NAFTA, in place since 1994, at the request of the government of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has long said the free-trade deal was hurting American businesses.
All the negotiating teams have estimated that the renegotiation could be finished in late 2017 or early 2018, after seven rounds of talks.