International Business

Canada, Chile Prepare Pre-NAFTA Pacts: The two countries will pursue labor and environmental side agreements that will help Chile eventually join the North American Free Trade Agreement, a Canadian spokesman said. The countries will begin several days of negotiations today in Ottawa, their second round of talks in pursuit of a free-trade deal bringing Chile into NAFTA, which groups Canada, the United States and Mexico. Canada and the United States, which is seen as delaying Chile’s participation in NAFTA, insisted on labor and environmental standards being upheld when Mexico was added to the arrangement, and they could well insist on similar standards for Chile.