(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. may be on the verge of a “big Trade Agreement” with Mexico as the Nafta representative of that nation’s president-elect signaled that the thorny issue of rules for the energy industry seems to be resolved. Trump emphasized the collaboration with the current and incoming Mexican administrations. “Our relationship with Mexico is getting closer by the hour,” he tweeted early Saturday. “Some really good people within both the new and old government, and all working closely together.” Jesus Seade, the envoy from incoming Mexican leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, arrived at a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saying the nations have resolved concerns that the deal had too many restrictions on how the next government can treat foreign oil companies investing in Mexico. “It was a rich, fun, important negotiation, from which everything emerged in a very satisfactory way for all involved,” Seade told reporters after returning to Washington following meetings with the incoming administration in Mexico City on Thursday. “We’ve adjusted very well the focus, but without changing the content, the substance, and we’ve arrived at a solution that should be satisfactory for everyone,” Seade said. “We still need to check technical texts, and I want to be respectful of everyone, but it’s now substantially agreed, with the correct focus.” Big Day Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray also attended the meeting with Lighthizer, and Guajardo said he expects Saturday to be a big day for negotiations. Nafta talks are poised to spill into next week, pushing up against the goal for a deal by the end of the month, as the countries work out their issues before Canada is expected to rejoin the talks to update the three-nation agreement. Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Contact us at letters@time.com.<doc-sep>Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump on Saturday hinted that the US and Mexico were on the verge of finalizing a deal, as negotiators from both sides were holding talks through the weekend to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement. "Our relationship with Mexico is getting closer by the hour," the US president tweeted. "Some really good people within both the new and old government, and all working closely together....A big Trade Agreement with Mexico could be happening soon!" His tweet followed a similarly optimistic message from Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, who said on Friday that bilateral meetings with the US were "very far" along and that Canada was set to rejoin talks as soon as they were called. Guajardo and Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray have been shuttling back and forth to Washington for more than a month for meetings with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to try to iron out bilateral issues, such as rules for the auto market, before the end of August. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland of Canada -- the third party to the trade pact -- said earlier in the week that she was encouraged by the progress between Washington and Mexico City and would rejoin the talks once the bilateral discussions concluded. Guajardo declined to go into detail on the topics remaining with the United States but said the agreement could happen at any time. "The idea is that we are staying because we know there are issues to resolve," he said. "And we have to make sure that everybody feels comfortable with this agreement." A contentious "sunset" proposal by the United States -- to require that the nearly 25-year-old trade pact be reauthorized every five years -- is one that must include all three partners, Guajardo said. Jesus Seade, an economic advisor to Mexico's incoming president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has been participating in portions of the NAFTA talks and said the sunset clause "is going out," according to press reports from Mexico City.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States could reach a “big Trade Agreement” with Mexico soon as the incoming Mexican trade negotiator signaled possible solutions to NAFTA energy rules and a contentious U.S. “sunset clause” demand. Trump tweeted on Saturday morning that the United States’ “relationship with Mexico is getting closer by the hour. Some really good people within both the new and old government, and all working closely together....A big Trade Agreement with Mexico could be happening soon!” Jesus Seade, who will serve as chief negotiator for Mexico’s next government, said he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were now discussing a periodic review process that spare the North American Free Trade Agreement from automatic expiration unless new terms were agreed. Mexico and Canada have adamantly opposed the U.S. sunset demand that would kill the pact unless it is renegotiated every five years, a plan that business groups also say will stifle long-term investment decisions. “It’s going to come out. It’s no longer what the United States was putting first in any way,” Seade said of the sunset clause outside the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. Seade said he and Lighthizer last week began discussing a new approach to review the trade pact, that would have longer periods between reviews, providing more certainty for business investments. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office denied that Lighthizer had softened his position on the sunset clause, without further elaboration. The sunset issue is one of the biggest remaining obstacles to a NAFTA deal as negotiators race to try to land a new NAFTA agreement in principle by the end of August. The United States and Mexico have been holding bilateral talks aimed at resolving their differences before bringing Canada back to the talks. FILE PHOTO: The flags of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are seen on a lectern before a joint news conference on the closing of the seventh round of NAFTA talks in Mexico City, Mexico, March 5, 2018. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo Seade said the issue of auto sector rules is “basically resolved,” although some aspects, including time frames, are still being discussed. Seade also said on Saturday that a “correct focus” on NAFTA’s energy chapter has already been substantially agreed. Since Mexico’s July 1 presidential election, the Mexico-U.S. talks have been complicated by divisions between the incoming and outgoing Mexican administrations over energy policy. The team of leftist Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has resisted enshrining the 2013-14 opening of the oil and gas sector enacted by outgoing president Enrique Pena Nieto in the new NAFTA, people close to the talks say. Lopez Obrador opposed Pena Nieto’s energy reform, and the issue is divisive within his own camp. Business-friendly aides back greater outside investment in the industry, while his more nationalist allies want the oil to remain in Mexican hands. ‘NOT THERE YET’ Asked about Trump’s tweet, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo acknowledged some progress, but told reporters in Washington before beginning another day of talks that the two countries are “not there yet.” “Nothing is done until everything is truly done,” he said. “Today will be an important day.” Trump prompted the NAFTA revamp more than a year ago, complaining the pact has benefited Mexico to the detriment of U.S. workers and manufacturing. He made renegotiating NAFTA one of his top campaign pledges. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the pact if it is not reworked to the advantage of the United States. The U.S.-Mexico talks for weeks focused on crafting new rules for the automotive industry, which Trump has put at the center of his drive to rework the 24-year-old deal he says has been a “disaster” for American workers.<doc-sep>
After weeks of bilateral negotiations, the U.S. is close to striking a “big trade agreement” with Mexico, President Trump said in a tweet on Saturday morning. “Our relationship with Mexico is getting closer by the hour,” the tweet read. “Some really good people within both the new and old government, and all working closely together….A big Trade Agreement with Mexico could be happening soon!” For weeks, U.S.-Mexico talks have centered around the automotive industry, but negotiations are part of a broader, year-long effort to revamp the North American Free Trade agreement, of which Canada is also a member. Canada has not been part of the most recent discussions. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously has said one of the sticking points is the inclusion of a five-year sunset clause, which would limit the lifespan of the agreement. Trump’s insistence of including that in the trade pact drew swift rebuke from Canada and Mexico. According to Reuters, Mexico’s incoming trade negotiator told reporters in Washington that the U.S. had softened its stance on the so-called sunset clause. “It's going to come out,” Jesus Seade, designated chief negotiator of Mexico's next government, told reporters outside the U.S. Trade Representative's office. “It's no longer what the United States was putting first in any way.” On Saturday, ahead of another round of discussions, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo acknowledged progress made but told reporters that the two countries are “not there yet.” "Nothing is done until everything is truly done," he said, according to Reuters. "Today will be an important day." Citing people closely tracking the negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. and Mexico are inching closer to reaching an agreement on key issues that have been stalling a renegotiation of NAFTA. The decades-old trilateral trade agreement has been a frequent target of Trump, who has criticized large trade deficits the U.S. has with Mexico and Canada, as well as the relocation of American jobs and companies. U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico, its third-largest trading partner, totaled an estimated $616.6 billion in 2017, with a trade deficit of $64.1 billion. In early July, Trump said he plans to wait until after the November midterm elections to sign a revised version of NAFTA. The president has also indicated that if it could not be overhauled to better protect U.S. interests, Washington would pull out of the $1.2 trillion pact.