Nafta nations lock horns on US auto demands

Negotiators from the United States, Mexico and Canada square off on Tuesday for the last time in a fifth round of talks to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement, with stalemate brewing on a contentious proposal to ramp up regional content for autos.

Officials and lobbyists say Mexico and Canada will firmly push back against the US demand to raise the minimum threshold for Nafta autos to 85 percent from 62.5 percent, as well as insist that fully half the content is from the United States.

The proposal is a central plank of US President Donald Trump's America First strategy to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States, though it faces stiff resistance from the auto industry, which questions its viability.