NAFTA Not Open To Renegotiation

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|22 January 2008

Both Mexican and US officials have stated that NAFTA renegotiation will not be re-opened, as neither side felt that the agreements in place could be altered successfully. The US Dept. of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS) reports that Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Relations (SRE) stated that re-opening NAFTA negotiations could cause more problems than it would solve. Arturo Sarukhan, Ambassador to the US, said, “From my perspective, renegotiation is not an option because it would be like opening Pandora’s Box, and it would initiate a fundamental questioning process of an agreement that was granted and has provided invaluable benefits to Mexico,” said Sarukhan.

Mark Keenum, Undersecretary of Agriculture of the US, also said that NAFTA would not be renegotiated. “There is nothing to negotiate, and we are not here to renegotiate or speak about managing trade,” said Keenum. “We are here to speak about the positive aspects and components of our economies under NAFTA,” he explained. He also noted that now that all the commercial barriers have been eliminated and the full implementation of NAFTA has occurred, the US hopes to continue a positive trade balance for both nations.