Canada and Mexico will work together to try to get the U.S. to cut auto tariffs on imports from the two countries, Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary said Friday at a meeting with his counterpart in Ottawa.
Roberto Velasco Álvarez said the auto industry will be a key part of Mexico’s “general co-ordination” with Canada in preparing for negotiations with Washington over the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, which the U.S. declined to renew by a July 1 deadline, setting off annual reviews with accompanying negotiations.
“This is part of the conversation we’ve had with the United States,” Velasco told reporters in a joint press conference with Anita Anand, Canada’s foreign affairs minister. “And of course this is part of the conversations that we have with Canada in terms of our general co-ordination around (North American free trade).”
The meeting of the ministers and Velasco’s comments suggest that Canada and Mexico are trying to join forces to get a deal, or deals, with Washington to maintain the low-barrier trading relationship that has existed since the beginning of NAFTA in 1994. U.S. negotiators have signalled a preference to negotiate separately with Canada and Mexico as much as possible.
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