President Trump’s top two recipients of criticism on trade — China and Mexico — are expressing interest in negotiating their own free trade agreement.
China’s ambassador to Mexico, Qiu Xiaoqi, emphasized that China is ready to talk to Mexico about a “free trade agreement.”
“There is no difficulty from China’s side, ” Qiu said last week. “We have great interest in deepening and broadening these ties.”
Trump is set to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto this week at the G20 Summit in Germany. It will be their first meeting since Trump took office. Trump will also sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump’s meeting with Peña Nieto is critical for the United States and Mexico: Peña Nieto was supposed to meet Trump in Washington in January. Then Trump tweeted that he should only come if Mexico would pay for the border wall. Peña Nieto canceled his trip and emphasized that Mexico wouldn’t pay for the wall.
Related: U. S. and Mexico dodge trade war over sugar
Along with Canada, Mexico and the United States will start renegotiating NAFTA, the free trade agreement between the three nations, in late August.
Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA, and he frequently labels it a terrible deal. Trump blames Mexico and NAFTA for the sharp decline in American manufacturing jobs.
Mexico, meanwhile, is looking elsewhere for new economic alliances. And China say it’s game.
Mexico’s economic secretary, Ildefonso Guajardo, plans to visit China in September.
