The EC vice president says the agreement with Mexico will strengthen trade based on rules

The Vice President of the European Commission (EC) and responsible for Employment Promotion, Jyrki Katainen, said today that the talks to update the trade agreement with Mexico "are moving very well "and pointed out that achieving this would mean, along with the existing one with Canada, a rule-based trade reinforcement.

Brussels, 13 Nov (EFE). - The vice-president of the European Commission (CE) and responsible for Promotion of Employment, Jyrki Katainen, said today that the talks to update the commercial agreement with Mexico "they advance very well" and pointed out that achieving this would mean, along with the existing one with Canada, a rule-based trade reinforcement.

"If we manage to finalize our update of the trade agreement with Mexico, the European Union (EU) would have trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, very modern economies, and would reinforce trade based on much more rules that in a situation without agreement, "Katainen told Efe.

Asked about the impact of the election of Donald Trump as US president on the progress in the Free trade negotiations with several countries throughout America, Katainen noted that changes in world politics, "like the change in the positioning of the United States", have created "pressure to reach agreements".

According to the EU vice-president, many countries outside the EU "support the European approach in favor of multilateralism and for freer trade and fair, against protectionism. "

" Since the beginning of this year, many countries with which the EU had already negotiated have contacted us and said they wanted to accelerate the negotiations because they wanted to send a strong message against unilateralism, "said the Finnish politician.

The EU is immersed in negotiations to update its free trade agreement with Mexico, which dates back to the year 2000, although there are still obstacles in sensitive matters such as rules of origin, geographical indications, public markets or a mechanism to protect the investments.

The European Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, was optimistic last Friday on the potential conclusion of these talks before the end of the year and He said he sees "realistic possibilities" to achieve it.