Mexico steps up bilateral FTA talks with Turkey

The Dollar Business Bureau

After US President Donald Trump called for a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico has escalated talks with its other trade partners, including Turkey for creating new free trade zones.

On Friday, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray said Mexican and Turkish authorities agreed to speed up the negotiations process of bilateral free trade agreement.

"We've already had seven rounds of negotiations, and another round will be held in the coming weeks, we have agreed to speed up the process of searching for specifics of this agreement," Videgaray said, after his meeting with his Turkish counterpart.

Earlier this week, Mexico’s Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo said his country was looking to extend the current trade agreement with the EU.

Following the US’ withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, Mexico has initiated free trade negotiations with Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.

Luis Videgaray also telephoned his British counterpart Boris Johnson to discuss bilateral cooperation and trade.

On January 23, Trump declared that the United States was no longer a part of the 12-member TPP treaty, and also promised to renegotiate NAFTA.

Mexico’s foreign ministry announced it will start a formal three-month process of consultations with the country’s private sector to ascertain the parameters for renegotiation of the NAFTA with the US and Canada.