La Jornada: Integrated into the T-MEC, 85% of agricultural exports

During the first four months of this year, Mexico sold agri-food products abroad for 18.46 billion dollars. Of that total, 15,601 million corresponded to sales made under the T-MEC, to the United States and Canada, which is equivalent to 84.5 percent, official data reveal.

The figures place the agricultural and agroindustrial sector as one of the most integrated in the trilateral scheme, indicated the Agricultural Market Consulting Group (GCMA).

In January-April imports, Mexico acquired agri-food goods for 15,432 million dollars, of which 10,744 million came from its treaty partners, a figure that represents 69.7 percent of the total purchased abroad.

The net result left a surplus of 3.28 million dollars in the global agri-food balance, and 4.857 million if only the exchange with the United States and Canada is considered.

Within exports to the bloc, the United States concentrated 15,191 million dollars, equivalent to 82.3 percent of the total sold abroad, while Canada absorbed 410 million, the remaining 2.2 percent of trade with northern partners.

In purchases from the US market, 9,716 million dollars were invoiced and from the Canadian market, 1,028 million dollars.

They are the results based on which active negotiations are carried out on the future of the trade agreement. Mexico and the United States agreed to three bilateral rounds prior to the formal review: the first was in May, in Mexico City; the second, in Washington, on June 16 and 17, while the third is scheduled for the week of July 20, again in the Mexican capital.

In parallel, on June 18 it was confirmed that the Trade Ministers of the three countries will hold a virtual meeting on July 1 to formalize the start of the review process.

Recently, the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, stated that the T-MEC will continue to be in force for a minimum of 10 years regardless of what happens on July 1, when the three countries must communicate whether they opt for a 16-year extension or to maintain the agreement in its original term with annual reviews.

“The hypothesis that I am going to withdraw from the treaty, since to date it does not exist, has not happened,” he said, recalling that any of the three governments would have had to notify their departure six months in advance.

In this 10-year scenario, one of the central points to be resolved would be the scope of the planned annual reviews, given that many of the changes sought, such as modifications to rules of origin or greater regional content in steel, require processes that take years and cannot be subject to short-term reviews without generating uncertainty for investors.

The agri-food sector is among those with the greatest interest in the continuity of the treaty.

Around 160 agricultural and livestock producer organizations from the three countries sent a letter to their respective governments to ask that the agreement be preserved and disruptions in the food supply chain be avoided.

The North American region produces 12 percent more food than it consumes, with a food self-sufficiency rate of 112 percent, and generates approximately 33 percent of the world’s GDP with a combined population of 512 million inhabitants.