30 May 2016
Today’s announcement of talks to update and extend the EU’s trade deal with Mexico has been welcomed by ECR MEPs.
Today’s announcement of talks to update and extend the EU’s trade deal with Mexico has been welcomed by ECR MEPs.
The current deal came into effect in 2001 and since then digital commerce and the service sector have both grown in importance.
Emma McClarkin MEP, European Conservatives and Reformists International Trade spokesman, hopes small and medium sized companies (SMEs) in particular will benefit from the renegotiation.
She said: “Updating our trade agreement with Mexico is a key aspect of the EUs development of it’s relationship with North America. As we near completion of a deal with Canada, while continuing to push hard on TTIP, Mexico must also be updated to reflect what we are doing with these other partners.
“The Commission must be as ambitious as it has been with it’s recent negotiations to ensure that businesses of all sizes feel the benefit from this venture. We have willing partners in Mexico, for whom the EU is it’s second largest export market, and as such we should aim high, looking to address issues other than just tariffs that hold up trade, particularly for SMEs.
“At the same time, the EU has developed strong sustainable development chapters linked to trade and so widening and deepening this agreement to include these aspects will benefit people on both sides of the Atlantic in many ways.”
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal, announced the launch of negotiations to update the EU/Mexico trade and investment partnership in Brussels this afternoon.