MEXICO CITY, April 4 (Reuters) - Top officials from Mexico, Canada and the United States have a window of opportunity of two to three weeks to strike deals on the thorniest obstacles to reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a Mexican private sector business leader said on Wednesday.
Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo is holding talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer from Wednesday in Washington ahead of a planned trilateral meeting including Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.
At the same time, Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will also be in Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, among other U.S. officials, the Mexican government said.
Moises Kalach, a senior member of the CCE business lobby, which represents Mexico's private sector in the talks to revise NAFTA, said he expects signs of progress even if ministers do not reach a formal agreement.
The United States "is in more of a rush than before ... the window of opportunity is now open, it's a couple of weeks," Kalach said on Mexican television.
"We expect that between two to three weeks - there is a process so that there is a chance to close."
Kalach also said he expected more clarity on the talks' progress toward the end of this week and the start of the next.
NAFTA negotiating teams have been meeting for weeks to try to narrow their differences, Guajardo said on Monday, sounding a positive note for making further advances at a summit of leaders in the Americas in Peru that begins on April 13. an initial NAFTA deal is reached, a longer period will be needed to finalize technical details, Guajardo said.
Canadian officials have yet to confirm Freeland's presence in the United States, but sources briefed on the talks say she will head to Washington later this week.
Most likely, negotiators will come to terms over contentious rules governing automotive content before moving on to other tough issues, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. has threatened to ditch NAFTA if it cannot be reworked to his satisfaction, and talks to modernize the 24-year-old treaty have dragged on since August.
The last formal round of talks closed in March, with no confirmation as yet for a subsequent round.
Kushner met Videgaray and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico last month, discussing NAFTA and the fight to curb organized crime and drug trafficking.