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Mexico’s Senate voted June 19 to ratify the USMCA trade agreement, making Mexico the first of the three North American countries to reach this milestone. The vote of 114 in favor to five against demonstrates the firm support for free trade on the part of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his Morena party, which holds more than twice as many Senate seats as the largest opposition party. Interestingly, four of the five votes against the USMCA came from members of the president’s own party, further underscoring the broad support for the deal across the political spectrum. With Canada seemingly moving ahead toward ratification, concern in Mexico appears to be focused on internal political struggles in the United States that could potentially derail ratification in the region’s largest economy. Continue reading Mexican Senate ratifies USMCA
Tag Archives: Trade
U.S. triggers 90-day waiting period for NAFTA negotiations
On May 18, the Trump administration sent formal notice to the U.S. Congress that it intends to renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico and Canada. The move initiates a 90-day waiting period before actual negotiations may begin, during which business groups can provide their input on the pact and the U.S. negotiating team may draw up its objectives and strategy for the talks with Mexico and Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump has called NAFTA “the worst deal in history” and “a disaster” and threatened to unilaterally withdraw the United States from the accord, however in recent weeks he has toned down his statements and backed renegotiation rather than withdrawal. Mexico is strongly in favor of maintaining the NAFTA agreement, and facing the prospect of cancellation of the pact, has embraced the negotiations. Continue reading U.S. triggers 90-day waiting period for NAFTA negotiations
Mexico frantic to diversify export markets for some reason
Now that the United States is loudly breaking up with Mexico on social, Mexico is suddenly on the prowl for hot rebound trade with other markets. This is how it looks from here anyway, with Mexican officials popping up all over the media saying some country or other is going to be a big new market for Mexican exports. The new U.S. administration’s threats to dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are currently stoking the flames of economic terror in Mexico, but we all know that Mexico’s dependency on the U.S. export market has been the stuff of economists’ nightmares for decades. To put it in perspective, the share of Mexico’s annual exports shipped to the USA has not dropped below 79% since some time before 1993, if it ever has. From 1998 to 2001, the concentration of Mexican exports destined for the U.S. market hovered near a truly bloodcurdling 89%. So it’s not like we didn’t know we were exposed to risk from overdependence on one market, but after 25 years of trade-loving U.S. governments, we became accustomed to living in denial. Continue reading Mexico frantic to diversify export markets for some reason