NAFTA: Mexico Willing to Discuss Trade Deal with President-Elect Donald Trump

Nov 11, 2016

Mexican government says it is willing to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with President-elect Donald Trump.

The NAFTA came into effect between the US, Canada and Mexico in 1994 when Bill Clinton was president.

The pact created one of the world’s largest free trade zones by reducing or eliminating tariffs on most products.

It was meant to benefit small businesses by lowering costs and reducing bureaucracy to facilitate buying and selling abroad.

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said his country would try to explain the “strategic importance” of the deal for the region to Donald Trump, who has heavily criticized it.

Image source Wikimedia

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau also said he was open to talks.

Donald Trump has called the pact as the worst trade deal the US has ever signed.

His strong protectionist sentiments on the campaign trail helped to win support in areas that were formerly manufacturing centers. Donald Trump has pledged to bring back US jobs lost to globalization.

Mexico and Canada fear losing access to the US market, on which they heavily depend.

The Mexican peso hit a record low following Donald Trump’s unexpected election victory and fell again on November 10 after recovering slightly.

Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said Mexico was willing to aim to “modernize” NAFTA with a Trump government and Canada, but also ruled out renegotiation.

Justin Trudeau said it was important to be open to discussion on trade deals.

No date has been set for talks but Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto has said he and Donald Trump have agreed to meet, possibly before the latter’s inauguration in January.

Aside from attacking NAFTA, Donald Trump has also heavily criticized the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a hugely ambitious deal signed between 12 countries that Mexico hoped to use to modernize NAFTA and expand its trade with Asia.

Ildefonso Guajardo said that in the event the TPP is not ratified by the US Congress, signatories should consider trying to implement the rest of the agreement without it.

President-elect Donald Trump has also angered Mexico by saying he would make it pay for a wall he wants to build on the shared border in order to keep out illegal migrants.

Hillary Clinton Opposes Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal

Oct 8, 2015

Hillary Clinton has come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal championed by President Barack Obama.

The historic trade deal involves 12 countries along the Pacific rim, including the US, Australia and Japan.

In a recent interview, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said the agreement left many “unanswered questions” and did not met the “high bar” she had set.

“I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,” she told PBS.

The former Secretary of State joins rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, in opposing the agreement.

Photo Getty Images

The deal took five years to negotiate and covers 40% of the global economy.

In an interview on October 7, Hillary Clinton said she would only support a trade bill that helped American workers.

“I have said from the very beginning that we had to have a trade agreement that would create good American jobs, raise wages and advance our national security and I still believe that is the high bar we have to meet,” she said.

President Barack Obama, for whom the deal would be a prime economic achievement of his second term, said the deal would level the global playing field for US workers.

“[The deal] includes the strongest commitments on labor and the environment of any trade agreement in history,” he said after the agreement was reached.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton also plans to propose a tax on high-frequency trading, her campaign said.

The tax would target securities transactions with excessive levels of order cancelations that can destabilize the markets, a campaign aide said.