Renegotiating NAFTA would harm US, Mexico warns

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY (AA) – The proposed renegotiating of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could hurt the interests of Mexico and the United States, Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade warned Monday.

“The damage assessment is not just Mexico’s,” Meade said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper.

Meade, who met last week met with British energy sector companies, including British Petroleum (BP), in order to attract new investment to Mexico, said the trade agreement involves complex supply chains that could not be easily undone.

“We are not selling jeans," he said. " That is a view of trade that was probably valid in 1992. We are talking about a very dense relationship based on value chains. There is no interest on either side in destroying value,” he said.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said recently that Mexico is willing to hold talks with Trump to modernize the trade deal.

“More than talking about renegotiating NAFTA, it’s modernizing NAFTA. Let’s modernize NAFTA so it becomes a more powerful, modern vehicle,” Pena Nieto said last week in Peru at a summit of Asian-Pacific leaders.

Concern has grown in Mexico since Trump’s election win Nov. 8 that he would renegotiate or scrap NAFTA.

About 80 percent of Mexico’s exports are shipped to the U.S. -- accounting for 29 percent of the gross domestic product of Mexico.

The Mexican peso plunged to a record low of 21.395 per dollar in the hours following Trump’s victory and on Nov. 17 the Bank of Mexico raised interest rates for a fourth time in 2016.

It said another hike before the end of the year was not out of the question, especially if the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to increase its rates.