Enrique Pena Nieto Vows to Defend Mexico's Interests in Trade Talks With US

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has promised to defend the interests of his country in trade negotiations with the United States amid the plans of the new US administration to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

MEXICO CITY(Sputnik) – Speaking at the 33rd Ordinary General Assembly of the National Agricultural Council (CNA) on Thursday, Nieto stressed that "in any agreement, in any treaty, in any negotiation, with the United States or with any other country in the world, the President of the Republic will invariably be acting in the defense of Mexico's sovereignty and the interests of Mexicans."

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be leading the talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump called NAFTA a "catastrophe."

Mexico’s Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo said this week that his country was planning to extend the current trade agreement with the European Union amid the uncertainty around NAFTA.

According to Guajardo, Mexico has launched free trade negotiations with Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam following the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade treaty.

On January 23, the US president signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the TPP free trade treaty, and promised to renegotiate NAFTA.