Mexican presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that his country would get along fine economically if the North American Free Trade Agreement were to collapse, an indication that the leftist former mayor of Mexico City was edging away from his prior campaign assurances that he would not try to undermine the 1993 trade deal.
“I am going to suggest that the treaty remains, but (the end of NAFTA) cannot be fatal for Mexicans, our country has a lot of natural resources, a lot of wealth,” he said in a presidential debate held late Tuesday in the city of Merida. Obrador has a long history of being critical of international trade deals but had previously sought to allay concerns that his election would negatively impact NAFTA, which is broadly popular in Mexico.
Polls have consistently shown Obrador holding a solid lead in the race. Tuesday’s debate was the last between the major candidates before the July 1 vote.
His comments came as talks on renegotiating the trade deal have hit an impasse. The White House had hoped to complete a deal and have it sent to Congress by mid-May in order to meet the deadlines imposed by the Trade Promotion Authority law and to head-off the Mexican election, but the trading partners could not reach agreement. That means any re-negotiations are unlikely to be concluded until next year, if at all, by which time Amador could be president.
The rockiness of the situation was seen on Sunday, when Trump trade policy adviser Peter Navarro said there was a “special place in hell” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The White House was steamed over Trudeau saying Canada “will not be pushed around” on tariffs after he and President Trump appeared at the G-7 summit. Navarro later apologized for the remarks.
Obrador has long been viewed with suspicion by the business community and free trade advocates, with many comparing him to Latin American socialists like the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The candidate sparked concern last year when he called for the Mexican government to postpone any NAFTA negotiations until after this year’s presidential election. “Any unfair trade deal can be revised by the Mexican government,” he warned at the time.
He subsequently moderated his tone on trade and NAFTA, saying that he would honor a deal negotiated by the outgoing administration and named several prominent trade economists as advisors. Critics charged he was only doing so because the NAFTA deal is widely seen as having contributed to the Mexico’s prosperity. Obrador has been a staunch critic of Trump as well.
