End of NAFTA wouldn't be 'end of world': Mexican leftist's top diplomat

The collapse of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would not be a disaster for Mexico, the top foreign policy advisor to leftist presidential election frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, adding that Mexico should depend less on the United States and not interfere with regional neighbours.

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday (February 08), veteran diplomat Hector Vasconcelos echoed Lopez Obrador's position that Mexico should suspend talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement until a new government is elected in July, and said Mexico had other trade options.

The United States takes about 80 percent of Mexico's exports, despite numerous international trade deals. The current government has stepped up efforts to diversify to other markets in response to USPresident Donald Trump's threats to scrap the 1990s-era NAFTA, which also includes Canada.

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Vasconcelos emphasised that Mexico would keep close ties to the United States if Lopez Obrador were to win, saying his government would seek an alliance for economic growth instead of a focus on police and military relations.

The diplomat pushed back at political rivals who say that Lopez Obrador's policies would take Mexico down a route similar to crisis-hit Venezuela, but said he did not support USsanctions on Venezuela's socialist government.

USSecretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a five-nation tour of Latin America and the Caribbean this week, said the United States was moving closer to a decision on imposing sanctions on Venezuelan oil.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States agreed to form a working group to study how to mitigate any fallout from the potential sanctions.