WASHINGTON : Talking Free Trade

Negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico are meeting in Washington, D.C., this week to try to reconcile differences over the proposed North American free-trade agreement in time for a top-level meeting next month.

U.S. trade negotiator Carla Anderson Hills is scheduled to meet with the Mexican and Canadian commerce ministers in early April to go over a final draft of the agreement.

However, documents distributed here over the weekend by an alliance of Mexicans and Canadians opposed to free trade indicate that the three sides are still far apart on crucial issues such as the objectives of the agreement and market access.