Mexico is ready to respond to possible actions by Trump: Ebrard

MEXICO - Mexico has a strategy and is prepared to respond to any action in economic matters that may be implemented by the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, once he takes office, so “there will be no surprises”, said the head of the Ministry of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, emphatically.

“Yes, we are ready; we have been working on this for months, so we know what to do in each case of the feasible scenarios, so there will be no surprises and preparations have been made to be on time and in shape and to react intelligently”, stressed the federal official.

He commented that the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA), which is the work of Donald Trump's first administration, is the most successful trade agreement there has ever been and there is no other that compares to it, by allowing trade between Mexico and the American Union to grow by more than 37%, for which reason, he said, there are sufficient elements to defend it.

He argued that, according to data from the U.S. government itself on its trade balance as of last November, it reveals that Mexico is the main trade partner of the United States above not only China but also Canada, with an export of US$466 billion and an import of US$323 billion.

“In addition, every time we export a dollar to them we import 65 cents; Vietnam doesn't even import 10 cents, China is around 20 cents. We are the best possible partner for the United States”, affirmed the Federal Secretary of Economy.