Sputnik: How do you assess the revamped Mexico-EU agreement? How profitable is it for both of them?
Antonio Moreno: I think that it’s been moderated by the fact that Mexico, I think, is suffering the consequences of the new and likely forthcoming trade policies by the US. I think that they have a lot of questions lingering as to whether NAFTA is going to be changed, and of course in a way NAFTA has had some positive impact in Mexico, so if NAFTA now changes, I think, Mexico is going to suffer a lot. So it makes sense for them to diversify their trade partners and to revamp the previous trade agreements, including more products that they could export and import.
Sputnik: So do you think this is going to fairly well compensate Mexico for what it lost in regards to the NAFTA deal?
Sputnik: And of course we have the US, Mexico and Canada expected to reach a new deal on NAFTA. Donald Trump has called the current deal the worst deal possible and the worst trade deal ever signed by the US. Do you think that the fact that you have now revamped the Mexico-EU agreement, it's positioning Mexico in a better way to go into the NAFTA renegotiations?
Antonio Moreno: Well definitely, I think it’s going to give them some bargaining power. Actually, there’s one other thing that we should take into account, it's not only about trading more but the quality of the products that you export.
Sputnik: What kind of deal do you think Mexico is looking to get, what kind of concessions will be considered by Mexico to the US? What are your thoughts on what the new deal is going to look like?
Antonio Moreno: I think that we have to depart from this view that this renegotiation attempt is a bad scenario for Mexico, so it's about time for Mexico to have the list, the renegotiations list, or the list of changes to NAFTA. That’s probably not going to be possible, but I think going forward the smart thing would be to have an industrial strategy for Mexico to try to build these industries also based on what they can export to the US; but I think also to the EU because this diversification has an advantage for Mexico and for the EU.
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Sputnik: Going forward then, do you think that it’s a pretty much a done deal that we’re going to see a NAFTA agreement that’s going to be good for Mexico and that the US will accept?
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.