December 7, 2017

The Chamber and the Mexican Consulate in San Diego co-hosted a presentation by Guillermo Malpica Soto, Head of the Trade and NAFTA Office for the Ministry of Economy of Mexico in Washington, D.C. The presentation’s purpose was to connect with the business community to share insight on the NAFTA negotiation rounds and Mexico’s overall strategy and priorities. Malpica Soto was also able to answer industry-specific questions from the Chamber members including the following highlights:

• The chapters on SME and completely have been finished. New chapters include digital trade, labor, environment, gender and aboriginal groups.
• Although not a chapter itself, entrepreneurship is addressed in several chapters as a desired result, i.e., facilitating digital trade and protecting small businesses.
• Mexico remains optimistic, although alternatives include new trade agreements and negotiations with Brazil, European Union, Australia, Singapore, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes determining the suspension of the U.S. participation and those policies in which the U.S. had interest.
• Mexico has proposed a review mechanism to counter the U.S. sunset clause. The negotiation strategy aims to make a statement on the undesired path to follow.
• Among the top priorities for Mexico, negotiators seek to enhance North America’s competitiveness as a region in the global market and modernize the existing trade agreement.

The Chamber continues with its advocacy efforts in support of the modernization of NAFTA and a positive outcome that will benefit the binational economy of the region.