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The Trump administration is putting trade negotiations with China on the back burner while focusing first on resolving issues in the North American hemisphere, reaching a breakthrough agreement between the United States and Mexico.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. is pursuing a new trade accord with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement and called on Canada to join the deal soon or risk being left out.

The United States and Mexico moved closer toward a consensus on how to forge a new North American Free Trade Agreement even though key obstacles remain, according to several people familiar with the matter on both sides.

President Donald Trump said negotiations with Mexico on a new NAFTA are “coming along nicely,” while telling Canada it will have to wait to re-enter the talks to modernize the three-nation trade pact — hinting at his preference for bilateral negotiations.

The United States and Mexico are in the final stages of negotiating a deal on rules for cars sold under NAFTA, one of the biggest sticking points in discussions to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to five people familiar with the talks.

High-level talks for a new NAFTA are picking up again this week following two months of limited negotiations that were marred by tit-for-tat tariff battles and diplomatic fallout.

Mexico is redoubling its efforts to reach a NAFTA agreement with the U.S. and Canada by the end of August to increase certainty for investors and take the heat off incoming President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to three people familiar with the negotiations.

There is a fair chance that North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations can wrap up by the end of the year, Mexico’s Ambassador to the U.S., Geronimo Gutierrez, said July 17.

The economy and trucking are in good shape for the second half of this year despite issues including the driver shortage. But uncertain trade policy is having an impact on future expansion, according to three industry experts who spoke June 7 at American Trucking Associations’ 2018 National Accounting & Finance Council annual conference in Raleigh, N.C.