[CTC] Mexico's López Obrador backs increased wages in NAFTA 2.0

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Mexico's López Obrador backs increased wages in NAFTA 2.0

By Sabrina Rodriguez 
05/21/2018 12:58 PM EDT

The Mexican presidential front-runner Andrés Manuel López Obrador fully endorsed the Trump administration's efforts to push for higher wages in Mexico as part of the talks to renegotiate NAFTA.

"On this, I agree [with President Donald Trump], that we have to raise wages in Mexico," López Obrador said during a two-hour televised debate involving the leading candidates for an election taking place on July 1. "We can't talk about a trade agreement if there isn't equality in wages, if we don't look for equality of wages."

The U.S. has sought to tie a new deal to higher wages, saying that a certain percentage of a car must be produced by workers earning at least $15 an hour. Mexican negotiators have repeatedly dismissed <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=45cb205d93f6411da271931cc2f9b515b75ef60ebc7502b17bc39dadbc647851cc30123ede10bbdaa9e56eaea8a14486> such a threshold as a nonstarter.

López Obrador and the other main candidates — José Antonio Meade from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and Ricardo Anaya from a right-left coalition — did not describe their priorities on a NAFTA re-do, should talks still be going on after one of them is elected. But they all were adamant that they did not appreciate the lack of respect reflected in Trump's critical rhetoric about Mexico and immigration.

"We have opportunities in many parts of the world, and we'll take advantage of them, but before we talk about trade and investment, we have to talk about respect," Meade said during the debate in Tijuana, Mexico. "In my government, we will not allow any agreement of any type on any topic that isn't based on respect."

The three candidates have all previously expressed the desire to continue talks between the U.S., Mexico and Canada to reach a modernized deal. However, business leaders in both countries have worried that López Obrador's nationalist agenda could affect progress in the renegotiation if he wins the election.

"I maintain that the best foreign policy is domestic," López Obrador said. My team "is in agreement and we should take advantage of the relationship with the United States — a relationship of friendship and mutual respect."

López Obrador also rejected the argument that he might launch a trade war if he follows through on plans to cut Mexican imports of U.S. corn if he wins. López Obrador, nicknamed AMLO, has repeatedly emphasized how he wants to increase national corn production if he takes office.

"There won't be a trade war. We're going to understand each other. We're going to make Donald Trump enter reason."

Any cut to U.S. corn sales to Mexico would be a blow to American growers. Last year, the U.S. sold upward of 15 million metric tons of corn to Mexico, according to USDA figures.

López Obrador continues to maintain a double digit lead in early polls ahead of the July election. Anaya, former head of the more conservative National Action Party, and Meade, who has served in various minister-level roles under opposing administrations, have struggled to cut into AMLO's poll numbers.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20180521/7e683229/attachment-0001.html>