WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States, Canada and Mexico on Wednesday kicked off here the first round of renegotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with widespread uncertainty and anxiety over the future of the decades-old trilateral trade deal.
"We all agree that NAFTA needs upgrading, it's a 23-year-old agreement, and our economies are very different than they were in the 1990s," U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said in his opening remarks for the inaugural round of NAFTA talks which will last until Sunday in Washington D.C.
"We need to modernize or create provisions, which will protect digital trade, service trade, and e-commerce, update customs procedures, protect intellectual property, improving energy provisions, enhance transparency and promote science-based agricultural trade," Lighthizer said.
He hoped that the three countries could develop model provisions in each of these areas "that will be used for years ahead and have the flexibility to adapt to future innovations."
The U.S. trade negotiator said he looked forward to productive discussions on NAFTA with Canada and Mexico in the next several months.
