Good progress is said to have been made in talks between the European Union (EU) and Mexico over securing an expanded trade deal between the two.
The current EU-Mexico Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) entered into force in October 2000. Negotiations towards a new ‘Global Agreement’ launched in May 2016 and another round of talks took place before Christmas – although no agreement was agreed by the close of 2017, as had been expected.
Discussions started up again in Mexico City last week.
According to the European Commission, talks resulted in “very good progress,” with a number of areas already finalised, including competition, small and medium companies, transparency, sanitary issues, good regulatory practices, and trade and sustainable development.
However, further work on a number of issues is still required, with these relating both to market access and rules, including geographical indications and investment protection.
“The EU and Mexico both remain strongly committed and with the aim to conclude the talks as soon as possible,” the Commission said in an update. “Meetings and other contacts at technical level continue. The two teams agreed to meet soon in Brussels. The exact dates are yet to be confirmed.”
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By GlobalDataWith qualifying textiles and apparel, travel goods and footwear from Mexico already benefiting from duty-free access to the EU market, textile and clothing trade is growing between the two sides. The most recent data shows textile exports from Mexico to the EU rose 8.4% year-on-year in 2016 to EUR80m, while clothing exports jumped 11.6% to EUR88m.
Likewise, the EU exported textiles worth EUR369m to Mexico, a rise of 9.9% year-on-year, and clothing exports climbed 7.6% to EUR489m.
