Fast Track to Jobs Through A North American Energy Market

Forbes, 2/15/2013

America’s sputtering economy and persistently high unemployment are urgent matters.  Does anyone think opening up negotiations with the 27-member European Union (E.U.) will have a near-term impact on either side of the Atlantic?  Meanwhile, there is a fast track to more jobs and wealth through expanded trade with just two countries, our neighbors Canada and Mexico.  But there wasn’t a single mention of Canada in the SOTU speech. Mexico got one brief nod, in the context of Ford returning jobs to America from Mexico.

The President’s E.U. trade proposal has already been widely quoted, meeting quickly with measured bureaucratic approbation in Europe.  Of course any progress towards more open and free trade is a net good for the world.  And as the President noted in his SOTU, America and the  E.U. account for 30% of world trade, and fully half of global GDP resides in these two regions.

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EU trade chief calls on Mexico to reopen trade pact with Europe

Reuters, 11/13/2012

Europe and Mexico need to go back to the negotiating table to rework their 12-year-old free-trade agreement to include services and agriculture, the European Union’s top trade official said on Monday.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said Mexico and Europe needed to rework their trade pact, which was signed in 2000, to match the framework of more recent and comprehensive deals.

“Mexico and the European Union have been pioneers of transatlantic free trade but our legal relationship now risks falling behind,” De Gucht told a conference in the central Mexican city of Queretaro.

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CRS Report: Mexico’s Free Trade Agreements

M. Angeles Villareal, 07/03/ 2012

On June 18, 2012, President Barack Obama announced that an invitation was extended to Mexico to join the ongoing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed free trade agreement involving the United States and eight other countries. Canada was also invited to join the negotiations.

Mexico’s pursuit of FTAs with other countries not only provides economic benefits, but could also potentially reduce its economic dependence on the United States.

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Mexico presses for quick entry in Trans-Pacific talks

Chicago Tribune, 4/2/12

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, set to leave office this year, pressed on Monday for a swift decision on his country’s bid to join free-trade talks with the United States and eight other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mexico “would like to join forces as soon as possible to the TPP, or the Trans-Pacific Partnership, because we know that Mexicans can contribute to a quick and successful conclusion of this process,” Calderon said at a news conference with President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Mexico, Canada and Japan all have expressed interest in November in joining U.S-led talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pact. Washington says the agreement would tear down trade barriers and toughen trade rules in the world’s fastest-growing region.

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Mexico’s Federal Government Asks for Vote of Confidence on FTA with Brazil (In Spanish)

El Economista, 12/09/11

El gobierno federal pidió a la Iniciativa Privada (IP) su voto de confianza para reanudar las negociaciones comerciales entre México y Brasil pero, a cambio, los empresarios exigen formar parte del proceso de análisis sobre las ventajas y desventajas del acuerdo estratégico económico que se pretende con esa nación para contar con un “piso parejo”.

Así lo estableció Mario Sánchez Ruiz, presidente del Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE), tras abundar que se promoverán los acuerdos comerciales, como organismo cúpula, siempre y cuando no se dañe la estructura del país ni de los sectores productivos.

“Se tiene que hacer un voto de confianza, pero con la salvedad de que cualquier negociación que se dé, primero, conocer la propuesta del gobierno mexicano y, segundo, construirla con ellos”, agregó Gerardo Gutiérrez Candiani, presidente de la Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (Coparmex).

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