U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew called for the United States and Mexico to pursue deeper trade ties through President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, which will ensure that fair trade grows both economies.
In prepared remarks at a university in Mexico City on September 29th, Secretary Lew said, “Together the U.S. and Mexico play an important role in the global economy, and we should embrace opportunities to strengthen that relationship.”
“Mexico is our third largest trading partner,” he said, “with nearly $1.6 billion in bilateral goods and services trade crossing the U.S. border every day—averaging more than $1 million every minute.”
Secretary Lew noted, “consumer spending, underpinned by real improvements in wages and job growth, has helped sustain the Mexican economy through a period of low oil prices and reflects the ongoing expansion of Mexico’s middle class.”
Secretary Lew said a strong economy also allows the United States and Mexico to “more effectively confront shared threats to our security and the integrity of our financial systems, such as illicit financial flows from drug trafficking.”
Over the last several years, Secretary Lew noted, the United States and Mexico have worked with 10 other nations to forge a new trade agreement that encompasses 40 percent of the world’s GDP, and links some of the most dynamic markets in the world.
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership,” he said, “will provide new opportunities for our businesses and workers by ensuring their ability to compete on a level playing field with international competitors and by uniting the nations of the Pacific Rim under a shared vision of fair, free, and open trade.”
“This agreement builds on the lessons learned from previous trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, incorporating strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards and protecting our workers by making sure that our trading partners play by the same rules and values that we do,” said Secretary Lew.
“The people of the United States and Mexico need us to work toward a future that benefits from increased trade, secure borders, and stronger, more inclusive economic growth in our two great countries, and one in which our globally competitive and integrated supply chains tap new markets in other parts of the world.”
