US is running out of time on NAFTA rewrite; China talks loom

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s trade team is running out of time to rewrite a trade pact with Canada and Mexico this year even as it negotiates with China and spars with its allies over U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

If negotiators can’t reach an agreement on a revamped the North American Free Trade Agreement soon — House Speaker Paul Ryan set an informal Thursday deadline — the talks could spill into 2019.

Or Trump could carry out his threat to withdraw from the agreement that he’s labeled a job-killing “disaster” and throw commerce between the three NAFTA countries into disarray.

NAFTA isn’t the only urgent item on the administration’s trade agenda. Trump met Thursday with Vice Premier Liu He in an effort to avoid a trade war with China.