Mexico, Canada brace for renegotiation talks over NAFTA

Global Business

Mexico, Canada brace for renegotiation talks over NAFTA

The Trump administration has formally advised the U.S. Congress it will seek to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. President Trump has repeatedly stated that NAFTA was not a fair deal for the U.S. Both Canada and Mexico are also working to get the best out of the re-negotiations.

CGTN’s Franc Contreras reports.

Since NAFTA was implemented in 1994, Canada, the United States and Mexico have been partners in commercial trade all three economies are more integrated than ever before. And Mexico’s economy has been growing.

But later this year Mexican and U.S. government officials will sit down to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. That’s creating worries on the Mexican side of the border.

Trump has called NAFTA “a bad deal” and he wants to remake it so it works better for the United States. Mexico has repeatedly said that trade needs to be modernized.

Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo recently traveled to Washington and met with U.S. business leaders in an effort to shore up trade ties.

Mexico’s Economy Secretary later issue this statement, urging business leaders to redouble their efforts to actively promote the benefits that NAFTA has provided to our region.

But earlier this year when Trump said the U.S. might break with NAFTA, Mexico’s Economy Minister replied with equal force, saying Mexico could break away from NAFTA if renegotiations are unfavorable for Mexico.

Meantime, commerce remains constant all along the U.S./Mexican Border.

Exports from Mexico to the United States and on this side imports from the U.S. into Mexico, and this is one of the least cross passages here in the U.S. Mexico border; just to give you an idea of how much commerce passes over this border.”

During NAFTA renegotiations, some Mexican trade experts have expressed a need to improve transport infrastructure. Ahead of what promises to be difficult negotiations, Mexico has other ideas for how to improve the trade pact.

Luis de la Calle, original NAFTA negotiator, helped the Mexican government negotiate the original NAFTA agreement in the 1990s. After two decades, he said it’s time to eliminate dumping agricultural goods among NAFTA partners.

“Now we have full free trade, we’ve been having freee trade with Canada and the U.S. more than 15 years, and it`s high time to eliminate dumping investigations among NAFTA member countries as you have in the European Union,” de la Calle said.

Few believe the negotiations will lead to the end of NAFTA. But just in case, Mexico has already begun making plans to expand trade with Europe and China.