MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s new foreign minister vowed on Monday that his country will negotiate with US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration “without fear.”
President Enrique Pena Nieto brought former finance minister Luis Videgaray back to his cabinet last week to seek “constructive” relations with Trump, who has vowed to upend trade ties with Mexico.
Videgaray had resigned as finance minister in September, a week after it was revealed that he orchestrated a much-criticized pre-election meeting between Trump and Pena Nieto in Mexico City.
“We will negotiate with great confidence in ourselves, without fear, knowing how important Mexico is for the United States in economic, social and political terms,” Videgaray said at a meeting with Mexican ambassadors.
Trump has angered Mexicans with his anti-immigrant rhetoric and his vow to make the neighboring country pay for a giant wall along their border.
The Republican billionaire, who takes office on January 20, has also caused the peso to plunge as investors fret over his plan to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.
He has also pledged to slap import tariffs of as much as 35 percent on companies that ship jobs abroad.
