Mexico City. The president of the Senate Foreign Relations Commission, Alejandro Murat, announced that he is promoting the holding of a Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Meeting, suspended for several years, in order to reactivate legislative diplomacy to assist in the review process of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada (T-MEC).
He considered that the most important part of the negotiation is already being carried out by the president, Claudia Sheinbaum, with her counterpart, Donald Trump. “Both have confirmed that a relationship of greater trust is built every day. That is the most important element”, but it is also required that from the legislature “we also build that positive atmosphere.”
In this context, he said that he will continue with the approaches, in order to finalize the Interparliamentary Meeting with the United States and, if possible, also with Canada. He noted that, for example, the trade exchange with Texas is 400 billion dollars or with California 200 billion dollars and surely its representatives and senators will have an interest in maintaining that relationship.
In his opinion, despite President Trump’s statements about the USMCA, which generate distrust, he expressed that he is optimistic, because the productive sectors of Canada, the United States and Mexico are in a very good environment, each one strengthening their positions, but all convinced of the importance of the agreement.
Senator Murat explained that the review of the T-MEC is already formally advancing in the regulatory processes of the three countries, and that in Mexico the Ministry of Economy maintains dialogue tables with 38 productive sectors, as well as with Canadian and US counterparts.
Questioned about the possibility of a free trade agreement with China, the former governor of Oaxaca explained that there is always openness, and that the strategy of applying tariffs to those who are not trading partners, as already explained by the President of the Republic, is a strategy to strengthen the country’s productive plant.
“We have the best relationship with the countries in the world, with 13 free trade agreements and this should continue and of course there is openness.”
He gave Brazil as an example, where expanding the trade relationship through various instruments is being evaluated, including the signing of a treaty. Likewise, he added, the free trade agreement with the European Union will be modernized.
“Treaties protect countries and generate equity. Whoever wants to carry out commercial activities with Mexico will find a country that is open and committed to multilateralism.”
Regarding the criticisms that have been made from the position that tariffs were applied to China to align with the United States government, Senator Murat responded that this is false.
“We align ourselves with the interests of the Mexican productive plant” in the face of imported products, which are accompanied by subsidies, which generates unfair competition for the Mexican economy.”
