US-Mexico Relations in Times of Definition

Mexico has offered to the Donald Trump administration an institutional relationship of mutual benefits and respect

Relations between Mexico and the United States are at a time of definition, according to Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, who called here to prevent differences from affecting those ties.

The decisions to be made by the two governments in the next few months, even days, will determine how relations will be in the years and decades to come, Videgaray noted today at a joint press conference after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The head of Mexican diplomacy referred to the renegotiation of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a process that was resumed yesterday in this capital. He noted that Mexico is attending the talks in ‘good faith, with a constructive spirit and convinced that the region can be the most competitive in the world’.

According to Videgaray, Mexico has promoted and offered to the Donald Trump administration an institutional relationship of mutual benefits and respect.

We admit that we are facing shared challenges, that we have opportunities of which we can take advantage together, but we have public and notorious differences and we cannot let them define the relationship, he pointed out.

According to Pompeo, the meeting with Videgaray on Monday dealt about trade, the handling of the common border, security and shared global priorities.

The U.S. secretary of State added that the modernization of that mechanism, which has often been criticized by Trump, who describes it as disadvantageous for his country and has threatened to withdraw from it if it does not follow Washington’s interests, cannot be put aside.

At the conference, during which none of the two participants answered questions from reporters, Pompeo noted the signing of a civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries.