Flags representing the United States, Canada, and Mexico fly in the breeze in New Orleans when leaders of the North American Free Trade Agreement met on April 21, 2008.
Photo Credit: AP / Judi Bottoni

NAFTA from the Mexican view of negotiations

NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, between Canada, the United States and Mexico is undergoing some tough renegotiations these days.

Donald Trump is talking tough and repeatedly has said the agreement has been a bad deal for the United States.

Many suspect Trump wants to “rip-up” the agreement as he has threatened, and observers, such as former negotiator John Weekes, now say that might be the best course of action rather than signing anything that might come out of what appears to be, a tainted process.

Canadian NAFTA negotiators meet with their Mexican counterparts in Mexico City for the first five days of September.

To find out what the view of recent developments in the NAFTA negotiations is from the Mexican side of the table, I spoke with Paloma Martinez.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, toasts Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during an official dinner at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. © CP/Sean Kilpatrick

She is a Montreal-based feelance journalist who is often featured on Radio Canada International’s Spanish web site.

Paloma Martinez says, Mexico is getting ready for the agreement to be scrapped,

She cites the recent visit of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto to China, to explore other markets.

While in China, Pena Nieto held bilateral meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and attended the Summit of Emerging Economies and Developing Countries.

These BRICS countries include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Similar to the Canadian situation, Martinez says Mexico has been much more dependent on the United States, than the United State is on Mexico.

Prime Minister Trudeau followed a visit to Washington D.C. earlier this month with his first state visit to Mexico.

He met with President Pena Nieto on October 12th, and the visit, accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire, was seen as an attempt by both countries to solidfy relations regardless of the outcome of the NAFTA talks.

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