#AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE FREE#

Since a bilateral free trade pact was first signed in 2000, trade between the EU and Mexico has risen at a yearly rate of around 8% per year, resulting in an overall increase of 148% over that period, according to the European Commission. The deal will also allow Mexican companies to bid for government contracts in Europe and EU companies for those in Mexico, including at state level. “With this agreement, Mexico joins Canada, Japan and Singapore in the growing list of partners willing to work with the EU in defending open, fair and rules-based trade,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Saturday. On Wednesday, the EU unveiled plans to fast-track deals with Japan and Singapore, saying it was leading the defence of free trade in the face of US “protectionism”. The pact, which is modelled on a recently agreed trade deal between Brussels and Canada, will then need to be green-lighted by the bloc’s member states and the European Parliament. If the EU fails to complete trade deals with Mexico and Mercosur by the end of this year, upcoming elections in Brazil and Mexico could complicate the conclusion of the agreements, EU negotiators warned on Monday (9 October). Mexico, Mercosur deals at stake if not concluded in 2017, EU warns “Today’s agreement also sends a strong message to other partners that it is possible to modernise existing trade relations when both partners share a clear belief in the merits of openness, and of free and fair trade.”

“In less than two years the EU and Mexico have delivered a deal fit for the economic and political challenges of the 21st century,” said Malmstrom.

#AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE FULL#

While some “technical issues” remained, Brussels said it expected to finalise the full legal text by the end of the year. The EU-Mexico agreement was reached after “months of intense negotiations, said a statement co-signed by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, her agriculture counterpart Phil Hogan, and Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal. The US leader’s threat to axe NAFTA altogether if he is not happy with the new conditions has stoked tensions and uncertainty among signatories to the deal, which also include Canada. The move is seen as sending a strong signal to Trump who last year launched renegotiations of what he has previously referred to as Mexico’s “cash cow” – the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The agreement in principle with Mexico follows a deal struck last year with Japan and comes ahead of talks next week with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Despite having spent three days in Brussels, Mexican economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo hasn’t managed to break the deadlock over the contentious outstanding issues, namely geographical indications and investment protection. There will be no modernised trade deal with Mexico for Christmas. EU and Mexico fail to conclude political agreement on trade deal

Agreement in principle