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Mexico, Canada and U.S. to sign the USMCA

Legislators from the three countries still have to approve the USMCA before it goes into effect

The three countries will sign the agreement later this month - Photo: Lars Hagberg/AFP
11/11/2018 |12:03Reuters y Notimex |
Redacción El Universal
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Cabinet ministers from Mexico, Canada, and the United States will sign a new trade agreement on November 30, Mexico’s Economy Minister said.

The deal will be signed in Buenos Aires, Argentina , the Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told reporters at an event in Mexico City . Argentina is hosting the G20 international forum for governments and central bank governors.

In regards to tariffs on Mexican steel , he said that they are looking to dialogue with both the national steel sector and the United States , to find a solution, although there are no guarantees.

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"There are 22 days left and I think we have some chance of achieving it. The ideal scenario is to eliminate all tariff hostilities, " said Guajardo Villarreal.

He recalled that Mexico and the United States have an economic exchange of over USD $500 billion , and the conflict in steel and the response on the subject of cheeses, pork , and apples , is equivalent to USD $6 billion , only 1.0% of the bilateral relationship.

It was yet to be determined whether the presidents and the prime minister will participate in the signing, Guajardo said.

After over a year of negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement , the United States and Canada reached a last-gasp deal in September. Mexico and the United States had already struck a bilateral agreement.

Legislators

from the three countries still have to approve the agreement, officially known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) , before it goes into effect.

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