The U.S. and Mexico on Monday reached a bilateral agreement on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The understanding between the two countries can be seen as a preliminary agreement to further trilateral negotiations with Canada.
According to the White House, the U.S.-Mexico agreement includes continuation of zero tariffs on agricultural products, new standards for agricultural biotechnology, improved transparency and non-discriminatory treatments for agricultural product standards, enhanced rules for science-based Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS).
Some of these clauses are based on language negotiated by the U.S. in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), including the SPS measures agreed to by the U.S. and Mexico on Monday.
The White House has not released text of the agreement.
“We are now going to devote long hours to the negotiation with Canada,” Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Mexican television on Tuesday.
