LEAD North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiators from Canada and Mexico signaled Sunday they were in no rush to strike a deal on the trade pact by mid-May, saying instead that talks are progressing well with a series of challenges remaining after a week of high-level discussions in Washington.

After holding trilateral talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said staff-level negotiations will continue today, as ministers stay in touch by phone and brief their countries’ industry and government officials on progress. The three will schedule a meeting for a later date, Guajardo said.

The countries have been holding periodic discussions since August after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw from the 24-year-old pact if he can’t renegotiate one that would shrink America’s trade deficit and boost manufacturing jobs.

But U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan injected a sense of urgency in negotiations last week when he said legislators need notice of a NAFTA deal by Thursday so they can vote before this Congress ends in 2018.

Lighthizer said he wanted to reach a deal in May, considering the political calculus for passing a new NAFTA would change if it had to be voted on by the next Congress. He said in a statement that the United States is ready to keep working with partners to achieve “breakthroughs” on NAFTA, which he called “a seriously flawed trade deal.”

Asked about this week’s deadline, Guajardo said “the agreement will be ready when it’s ready.” When pressed whether a deal is possible Thursday, he said, “We are working on that effort, but again I have to make very clear the quality of the agreement and the balance of the agreement has to be maintained.”

For her part, Freeland didn’t express a sense of urgency, saying the three countries are progressing well but have a “very long to-do list, which is constantly being updated.”

Automobiles again were on the top of that list, as the three negotiators discussed different proposals to regulate how much regional content a car must have to qualify for NAFTA’s tariff-free benefits. Mexico opened the door to compromise on the issue last week, though it’s unclear if the flexibility will be enough to reach a deal with the United States and Canada.

Trump called NAFTA a “horrible” deal during a meeting with the CEOs of the world’s biggest carmakers at the White House on Friday. (SD-Agencies)