Experienced trade negotiators (we were involved once as an official commercial observer) know that there is one thread common to virtually all international trade negotiations, which is that such talks almost always take as long as the amount of time available for them and are finalized at figuratively the last minute. Most eventually face some sort of a deadline, usually imposed by political considerations of one or more of the negotiating parties. The negotiations to create a revised NAFTA trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. have become a classic example of this. Various U.S. and Mexican political considerations made it important that an agreement be completed in time to become effective before a new government takes power...