Guajardo, Mexico’s top negotiator for “NAFTA 2.0,” insisted that even if no 11th-hour US-Canadian deal is reached, a three-way deal would still be possible at some point in the future.

But that would mean “going ahead with a bilateral agreement and then later defining what legal actions we would have to take to maintain the possibility of a three-way deal,” he said.

A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada’s top negotiator, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, “is in constant communication with the Americans, both formally and informally.”

The United States and Mexico want to push their deal through their respective legislatures before Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office on December 1.