Under relentless pressure from President Donald Trump, Mexico is said to be ready to discuss changes to trade rules about a product's country of origin to try to avoid a disruptive fight with the United States over commerce.
In a much anticipated speech, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto warned that "Mexico is obliged to take steps to defend itself given the new vision in U.S.," reaffirming Mexico "as a nation open to the world on trade." The peso is leaking lower as he speaks, erasing post-inauguration gains.
Further headlines include:
The days of the American homeowner competing against the Mexican guy living in a cardboard shack made from garbage is coming to an end -- God willing. While no one deserves to live in cardboard shacks made from garbage, it is not the burden of the American people to uplift the lifestyles of the Mexican people. If Mexico is unable to do that, they should permit our armies to take control of their cities and properly build their economies the way Alexander Hamilton intended.
source: Reuters/Bloomberg
With just two days left to go until Trump's inauguration, one of the President-elect's biggest opponents during the presidential campaign, Mexican billionaire and the country's richest man Carlos Slim, said on Tuesday that his cell-phone company America Movil is launching a a TV channel in the United State, Nuestra Vision, which "is focused on Mexicans, made by Mexicans and transmitted from Mexico," putting it into competition with broadcasters like Univision and Telemundo.
In the latest unexpected and ad hoc announcement on North American trade arrangements, the Globe and Mail reports that Trump's Commerce Secretary pick, Wilbur Ross, has informed Canadian officials that he plans to reopen NAFTA talks within days of his inauguration, and that rules of origin and independent dispute tribunals will be central in negotiations of North American Free Trade Agreement. Ross has indicated new administration will send a formal letter notifying Canada and Mexico of plans to renegotiate Nafta within days of Trump’s inauguration.