High-level talks last week to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) closed without any major breakthrough in efforts to reach an agreement in principle, with trade ministers pledging to have their teams continue work ahead of a target date this week to clinch a deal. The pact, bridging Canada, Mexico, and the United States, created a massive regional free trade area when it took effect in 1994. Several successive rounds of NAFTA negotiations have been held since tripartite talks to update NAFTA began last August, recently accelerated by several weeks of intense technical talks in Washington. The top trade officials of each NAFTA country met on Friday, amid growing political pressure, including a 17 May deadline to notify American lawmakers set by US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. That deadline, Ryan said, is key to permit sufficient time for the current Congress to vote on an updated accord. Though Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal have now returned from Washington, negotiating teams reportedly stayed on site to continue technical work on narrowing remaining differences. “It’s going to take as long as it takes to get a good deal,” said Freeland following...