The European Union and Mexico are accelerating negotiations on a new free trade zone agreement as new US president Donald Trump is going revise existing NAFTA agreement with Canada and Mexico and introduce punitive duties on goods produced by US companies in Mexico.
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that two additional rounds of talks will be organized in April and June 2017. The parties intend to jointly counteract dangerous growth of protectionism in the world and promote global development of open cooperation, said Malmström and Minister of Economy of Mexico Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal in Brussels.
The negotiations are meant to thoroughly update the FTA agreement concluded between the European Union and Mexico in 2000, so as to contribute to the further growth of trade. According to the European Commission, volume of trade between Mexico and the EU has tripled over the last 16 years.
According to Brussels, in 2015 European countries have imported in Mexico goods for 34 billion euros. Imports from Mexico to the EU amounted to 19 billion euros in the same year. The European Union is the third most important trading partner of Mexico after the US and China, and Mexico, in turn, ranks 15th in the list of EU trading partners.
Fate of TTIP agreement between the EU and the United States, negotiated by the European Commission and administration of Barack Obama, has been questioned. Economic Advisor to Trump Peter Navarro called the project "dead" on 31 January in an interview with the Financial Times.
Trump previously stated the US needs to change the situation with a huge trade deficit between the US and Mexico "right now", and also pointed to lack of assistance from Mexico in addressing weaknesses of boundaries between the two countries.
Earlier, Press Secretary of the White House Sean Spicer said that the trade deficit between the US and Mexico numbers $ 50 billion. According to him, decision to impose a 20 percent tax on the sum of the trade deficit is one of possible options to charge Mexico for construction of a border wall between the two states. According to him, this step would help to "raise $ 10 billion per year and easily pay the wall off."
January 26, President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto stated his intention to cancel a meeting with the US president Donald Trump, which was to be held January 31, CNN reported.
This decision has been made in connection with Trump’s statements that Mexico will have to pay for construction of the US-Mexico border wall.
Earlier, the US President said that if Mexico is not going to pay for the construction of a wall on the border, it would be better to cancel the upcoming visit of the President of Mexico in the United States.
"If Mexico does not want to pay for the wall, which is urgently needed, then it would be better to cancel the forthcoming meeting," - Donald Trump wrote on his Twitter.
source: cnn.com
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that two additional rounds of talks will be organized in April and June 2017. The parties intend to jointly counteract dangerous growth of protectionism in the world and promote global development of open cooperation, said Malmström and Minister of Economy of Mexico Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal in Brussels.
The negotiations are meant to thoroughly update the FTA agreement concluded between the European Union and Mexico in 2000, so as to contribute to the further growth of trade. According to the European Commission, volume of trade between Mexico and the EU has tripled over the last 16 years.
According to Brussels, in 2015 European countries have imported in Mexico goods for 34 billion euros. Imports from Mexico to the EU amounted to 19 billion euros in the same year. The European Union is the third most important trading partner of Mexico after the US and China, and Mexico, in turn, ranks 15th in the list of EU trading partners.
Fate of TTIP agreement between the EU and the United States, negotiated by the European Commission and administration of Barack Obama, has been questioned. Economic Advisor to Trump Peter Navarro called the project "dead" on 31 January in an interview with the Financial Times.
Trump previously stated the US needs to change the situation with a huge trade deficit between the US and Mexico "right now", and also pointed to lack of assistance from Mexico in addressing weaknesses of boundaries between the two countries.
Earlier, Press Secretary of the White House Sean Spicer said that the trade deficit between the US and Mexico numbers $ 50 billion. According to him, decision to impose a 20 percent tax on the sum of the trade deficit is one of possible options to charge Mexico for construction of a border wall between the two states. According to him, this step would help to "raise $ 10 billion per year and easily pay the wall off."
January 26, President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto stated his intention to cancel a meeting with the US president Donald Trump, which was to be held January 31, CNN reported.
This decision has been made in connection with Trump’s statements that Mexico will have to pay for construction of the US-Mexico border wall.
Earlier, the US President said that if Mexico is not going to pay for the construction of a wall on the border, it would be better to cancel the upcoming visit of the President of Mexico in the United States.
"If Mexico does not want to pay for the wall, which is urgently needed, then it would be better to cancel the forthcoming meeting," - Donald Trump wrote on his Twitter.
source: cnn.com