Without further ado please join me in welcoming carla hill and the speakers to the panel. applause again thank, you thank you. Big well im going to encourage you to take your seats and to join the conversation here, we heard and a prior Panel Questions about trade and not so many answers so we brought together a stellar panel that really represents a broad segment a of the western hemisphere and you could not find greater talent, so it is my great honor to introduce the panelists who will talk to you about rethinking our trade agenda and the, in the americas and its a challenging topic, we live in and certain times, not only in the western hemisphere but globally. But what we do in the western hemisphere can set an example and let me just tell you a sentence or two about each of our panelists. Sitting to my left is secretary mrsa birch or, who was appointed last october, the argentine as, secretary of International Trade in the ministry of production and labor, her assignment as described by her ministry is to implement a strategies to insert argentina into Global Production chains, to promote investment, to open new markets for argentinas projects and to simplify trade procedures. Formally she served as argentinas secretary, to the industrial markets for the agriculture ministry, she also worked for the ministry of foreign affairs, the city of wetness areas as general director of Economic Development and the private sector for the ses group. And she has taught courses and Foreign Trade and International Economics at universities in argentina. She holds degrees in International Commerce and a post graduate degree in International Marketing and Foreign Trade. Sitting to her left is minister about gonzalez who has served as the resident fellow for International Economics since last october when she stepped down as senior director of the world banks global practice on trade and competitiveness. Previously she served as costa ricas minister of trade, in that role she negotiated six Free Trade Agreements, including the Central American republic fta, known as the kafka and shes also served as director in charge of its Agricultural Division she has been the minister of Foreign Trade among many roles minister gonzales is part of trade and law at the university of costa rica and has published extensively, she holds a masters degree in International Trade from georgetown university, sitting to her left is doctor pereira who serves as the principal economic adviser of the integration and trade section at the American Development bank in earlier he worked at the Research Department in the Development Bank of residual and taught at the federal university of Rio De Janeiro in brazil. The doctor has written extensively on the field of economics and trade including really well regarded works to explore and domestic transport costs and latin america, shaking the future of asia and latin american relations, india, latin america is next big thing . Question mark and i report on the impact of transport costs of latin america trade, and he received his ph. D. In economics from the university of college in london, last but certainly not least ambassador Martha Garcia who in january became the first woman to serve as mexicos ambassador to the United States. Previously she served as mexicos ambassador to denmark, turkey, georgia, aszerbaijan. She has held a number of positions including technical secretary for the eu latin America Caribbean summit, as advisor under secretary for africa, asia pacific, europe and the United Nations and head of the department of Migrant Workers and others. She has also combined her Government Service with teaching about International Trade. Shes a Founding Member of an ngo that promotes education for peace and disarmament. And she holds a bachelors degree in communications, science and philosophy and masters degrees in political philosophy and international studies. So you couldnt find four more able persons to talk about how we rethink the trade agenda in the americas. And ive been around a long time and i recall the first summit of the americas that was held in 1994 and attended by leaders from 34 nations, which resulted in a declaration whereby those 34 members agreed to create a free trade zone for the americas. Now, last year the most recent summit, it was the eighth summit. It was held in peru and there was a declaration there, but there was no mention of trade. So my question to the panelists is Free Trade Agreement for the americas a concept that no longer exists . Are there things we could do to rejuvenate our enthusiasm for trade in the western hemisphere . Translator i think there is a willingness to do so, but at i think there is a willingness to do so, but at this point given the inequalities in production and competitiveness, this time of agreement, we would have to rethink it. It is a major challenge. Id like to talk to the free trade area of the americas among others, because i was involved in the negotiation for some ten years or so certainly under your leadership as well. I say that the ftaa is an agreement in the waiting. Its an agreement in the waiting, i think, because it has huge potential. Ill refer a little bit to it. Its an agreement in the waiting because weve been waiting for it for a long time and also because i think we will need to continue waiting for it for some time as well. The first point, if you look at our region in the western hemisphere, an agreement like this would bring together about 950 billion people with a combined gdp of 30 something trillion u. S. Dollars. This would make it the largest fta in the world. To put it in context, if the u. S. Would go back to the new tpp, it would be more or less equivalent. So this would be a very big deal, could promote trade and investment in the region, could be a laboratory for innovation in trade disciplines. So i think it could be potentially very powerful. Now, as i said, weve been waiting for it for a long time, but i think it has not been in vain in the sense that countries in the region have entered into about 100 preferential trade agreements with countries in and also outside the region. So this would give us a good basis from which to build and bring greater conversions of all these different agreements that are already in place in latin america. But the third point why this is an agreement in waiting is that unfortunately i think we will need to wait a bit longer. I was recalling now that i see him here victor rico, he was a vice minister of bolivia at the time and he also participated in those negotiations. Now, why i say we need to wait for it a bit longer is in the face of an erratic trade policy on the part of the United States, it is very unlikely there would be interest on the part of latin american countries. I always like to cite a friend of mine, a trade minister from a country in the americas, i asked what is your countrys trade policy visavis the u. S. At this moment . And this former colleague of mine told me, well, i can basically sum it under one overarching principle, which is strategic hiding. And i think for us now its more about strategic waiting, waiting until the right moment comes. But i think we should make no mistake that when the opportunity comes about, we would need to jump on it because i do think that it would be a very valuable initiative for this hemisphere. Dr. Mosquito. Professor, please. Can you tell me when the right moment will come . Unfortunately, i think i dont have qualities for divining the future. But what i can tell you in building up on what annabel has said, i think even if it is not the right moment now to think about a free trade area of the americas, progress has been made in the latest years. We have an example in the Pacific Alliance, for example, how this has become a newly and deep integrated region of mexico, colombia, peru, colliehile and maybe ecuador, costa rica, panama in the future and even soninlaw some countries outside the region. What we have been doing in the Pacific Alliance in the latest careers is to really build a constructive agenda and to identify the sectors in which we can have this deep integration. What we are having is, as annabel said, a lot of new Free Trade Agreements that have been signed either bilateral or regional. What we have to aim at is the convergence of these agreements. Then it will be easier if we deem politically viable to go into the free trade on the negotiation of the free trade area of the americas. It will be much easier if these all network of treaties are already converging. I would say that at the same time beside this network of bilateral and regional trade agreements in which Pacific Alliance is a great example for us and also the work that mexico has been doing with costa rica and with the northern triangle, i would like to emphasize, for example, that the aim of the new government of mexicos objective in our relationship with Central America is that the Central America region can work more closely from the economic point of view with the south and Southeast Region of mexico. One of the consequences or results of nafta was the very deep integration of the Central States of america and the northern states of mexico to the north American Economy but not the south and southeast. What we are conceiving is a political designing which the south and southeast part of mexico can be a whole integrated economic region with the northern triangle first and the first of Central America. If we can progress on that, if we can complement our economies as we are trying to do now and if we can advance in the different sectors of economic competitiveness, on transparency, on infrastructure, even on an integrated market on energy that we have been working with idb, which can have a Transformative Impact in the economies of the south and southeast of mexico and Central America, then i think in due time the Economic Situation will be mature enough to go into the free trade area of the americas. But we also need a more stronger position of the Central American economies, the south of mexico and others. Because if the economies are not better and not only growing economically but also tackling the very big challenge of inequality, because even with a High Economic growth in certain countries there has not been a reduction of inequality, then the conditions to start renegotiating the free trade area of the americas would be a little bit more difficult. If we manage to advance in all these regional and Bilateral Agreements and also on tackling these very big challenges, economic growth, economic inequality in general, competitiveness, complementarity of energy markets, integration of energy markets. Its not possible that energy is more cheaper in honduras or el salvador. This will never help the development of the Central America american countries. We need to work on that to be strong toreer to go into the negotiation for the whole region. Its already been said here. Ironically the only big stumbling block these days for Something Like that is the u. S. Because we really dont know what kind of trade policy the u. S. Is pursuing, what kind of commitment, all the volatility of it. When you think of Something Like that and we have been doing work on that, we can think of the region. We have big homework to do, sort of a low hanging fruit. As annabel has said before, just in the region we have 33 Free Trade Agreements that cover 90 of the trade. In other words, 90 of the trade is already free trade. So theres a big opportunity there to try to go towards convergence of those agreements to allow imports from colombia and export to argentina, this whole compilation of imports. All these small steps can be done without too big of a political effort or technical effort. But theres also a big gap in the region, which is something hard to understand. I think its the big paradox. The three biggest economies in the region dont have a trade agreement. Brazil, mexico, argentina, which are 70 of the gdp. They account for less than 10 of the interregional trade. And why . They have partial agreements. If you cant do that at home, its hard to think of going abroad and think of something even more ambitious. The good news is theres some good moves in that direction. You know, brazil for instance just recently accepted after, you know, going back several times in the last decades, accepted free trade in a very sensitive area. Argentina also was signaling in the way of increasing its small trade agreement with mexico. If this big three really decide to move towards convergency and filling those gaps, its not nafta but its something that you shouldnt leave on the table. When you look at the recent history, i think the governments in the region sort of grew very disillusioned with the efforts. And clearly didnt give enough support for the wto for instance to move forward for the negotiations. And that the fact is if the International Multilateral system falls apart, if you dont have this rule of law and we fall into something very similar to what we had where countries end up in spheres of influence where prevails the rule of power, not the rule of law, i think were going to be in a very difficult situation, which is not in the interest of anybody. So i would put as the highest priority, the governments in the region should do all they can, light candles at the door of the wto to make sure this thing keeps going, you know, that trade remains something that is governed by rule of law. Otherwise, you know, were going to be in very deep trouble. What i hear is all of you believe that it would be in the interest of your respective countries and the region were we to move forward to liberalize trade throughout the western hemisphere. And all of you, your countries, are members of the Pacific Alliance alliance. How do you see those groups helping, or do you see those two groups as working together to move the trade agenda in the americas forward after this 25year gap . I think i can start with the Pacific Alliance. I have had a very good experience on the Pacific Alliance, for example, how we did the promotion and the presentation of the Pacific Alliance, for example, in the Nordic Companies or turkey, which by the way all the nordic countries and turkey have become observers of the Pacific Alliance showing great interest for this. When i meet with business here in the u. S. , the other day i was with walmart and we were talking about the supply to walmart. And i asked them, have you explored the facilityies that we have with the Pacific Alliance . And they just turned to me and said what . So it is not well known and i think we have that challenge. At least the business in the u. S. , there is very little knowledge by the companies of the opportunities that the Pacific Alliance offer. And we have very clear examples. One of them is berries. Mexico is a great supplier of berries to the u. S. In certain seasons of the year, but theres other seasons of the year in which we cannot supply the berries and peru does it, because of the different hemispheres. But the mexican businessmen are already partnering with the peruvians to be able to supply the market whole year long. And this is something that even some companies in the u. S. Does not realize that they have these opportunities. So i think we have a twoway challenge. On one side is how to really progress on this deep integration inside the Pacific Alliance, which i already mentioned, how do we work. A great advancement was done at the summit in 2018 in which there was a very specific action plan to go forward between the Pacific Alliance on the elimination of nontariff barriers, regulatory aspects, trade facilitation and small and Medium Enterprises, which is one of the key elements of the Pacific Alliance. We have to work on that. On the summit in 2019 in peru, there was not i couldnt get the report on the implementation of the action plan. But Pacific Alliance adopted a very important statement on the strengthening of the multilateral system, how to strengthen together the multilateral system, the wto in three areas. In the negotiation process and of course on the monitoring of all the International Trade. So i think we have challenges inside the Pacific Alliance on how to integrate and how to progress on the action plan that was approved in 2018. At the same time we have a huge challenge inside the u. S. To explain what is the Pacific Alliance and to explain the opportunities that the Pacific Alliance is offering and its complementarity. When you talk to Europe Companies as daimler benz who are established both in the u. S. And mexico. They say what needs to be understood by the u. S. Government is that we are producing in mexico not for the u. S. Market only. We are producing in mexico which is as a platform for other markets, for world wide markets. And i think that one of the problems that we have now with these very nationalistic approach to trade issues in the u. S. Is that there are certain areas of the u. S. Government that are not open to understanding the global value chains. And on the contrary, what they are proposing is like going back 30 or 40 years to the concept of value chains and production and trade. So we have these two challenges, how to progress inside the Pacific Alliance in our relationships and also with Central America on the one hand, and on the secondhand is how to make the Pacific Alliance more visible in the u. S. And make the u. S. Understand both the government and the private sector understands better these opportunities. Yes. Yeah. I mean, i just want to say that i think that the Pacific Alliance was definitely a breath of fresh air in the region, in the way that the region was conducting integration. We had a very long winter of populist governments that turn integration into something very political, very ineffective in terms of economic integration. I think they also show us sort of a road map on how to move forward. What i think is clear when you look at this 30 years of integration in the region is that the idea of reproducing or replicating the model didnt work at all, this idea of Supra National institutions, parliaments, customs unions. It didnt work. We do need to realize that. And the Pacific Alliance by thinking in terms of intergovernmental institutions and think of, you know, plain vanilla free trade zone, this is something that really can work, you know, and show the way in terms of when you think of conversions. I do think thats crucial. If you get the two of them, we have 80 of the gdp in the region. Thats the way you can get a critical mass. Because by themselves, in the big scheme of things, if you talk just about trade, they tend to become irrelevant. They are just too small. The Pacific Alliance is 1. 9 trillion. The cptpp is 20 trillion. The scale is just too small. The only way you can make this thing relevant in terms of scale is to move towards convergency and thinking about intergovernmental organizations, think about a plain vanilla free trade zone. Yes. Translator agree with what our colleagues have said so far. On the one hand, yes, they have been sharing an agenda hatelately and beyond progress from the commercial standpoint, those of us that work with smes, we believe that what can help in facilitating trade and certification and regulation and the convergence. Thats a keyword, convergence. Thats what we need. We need to have progress in a trade agreement. Many people think it is bureaucratic but it is crucial for our businesses and this needs to be there to be able to come to a true agreement. But what is happening a few days ago you may have seen in the news that we took a step. We had an agreement with the Different Countries so we can now enter all these countries. So the Pacific Alliance is a priority for us. Among other things we need to complete other treaties that we had been negotiating like with canada, with south korea, with singapore. We need to work with latin america and also with the intention that we have from argentina, from brazil also where we are constantly in communication to make progress with mexico. These are markets where we have gone ahead with many Free Trade Agreements. Weve been working brazil, as mauricio said, the free trade in the automobile industry. So we are working on a Free Trade Agreement that includes more than automobiles. Free trade agreements that are just sectoral should not be the way to go because were missing opportunities. With colombia we have also made Great Strides the same as with peru. With chile we have already ratified two agreements. In short then, our objective is concrete. Trade, tariffs, lowering of tariffs is the first step. But we dont need to forget this agenda we promoted last year between the two blocs regarding regulatory convergence and the other things that forward Foreign Trade. Would you like to comment . Just very briefly to say i think the Pacific Alliance is a wonderful initiative. When i had the privilege of serving as minister of trade, this was one of our main trade priorities, accession to the Pacific Alliance. I hope that one day not only costa rica but other countries in the region will be able to become part of the Pacific Alliance and mercosur will bear fruit. Well let me ask specific questions and, im going to start with the doctor because it is been suggest is that brazil is interested in negotiating a trade agreement with the United States . Do you see that as a real possibility . And how would brazil do with the prohibition on members of mercosur negotiating on a bilateral trade agreement, tell us about that trade agreement . Very easy question. If you ask me that question five years ago it would be a nobrainer but this time after a long time the problem is not brazil he its political will to move in that direction but as i mentioned before im not sure what exactly you would be signing. The hard is it we isnt brazil, but what brazil would be signing with the west given the recent events and trade negotiations that u. S. Has been involved, there is just too much volatility, commitments or not that clear and some of the conditions that were negotiated not market economy conditions at all, for instance forcing wages dark, things like that. So hard we need to wait and see whats going to happen on this front, i think this time the whole issue is on our trade policy in the u. S. Is going to evolve on the issue a of mercosur, i think its a whole different discussion, we, mean brazilians, argentinians, need to address, definitely mercosur needs reform. I was suggesting before i think the Pacific Alliance shows the way and how do it and particularly because, you know our law its very hard to have a political consensus like you have in mexico to lead through where there is a political cycle that moves on but support for a free trade is always there, and our country if you ask about free trade youre going to get a very different answer that if you ask the current government so we dont want to have the whole effort of integration and not only regionally but with the world all the facts from this very volatile political cycle so i think a free trade zone preserving all the achievements oil that, mercosur may very great achievements in terms of promoting trade between members but if you want to move forward and spark with the thing and one of the members holding the other because of the political cycle not being the same, you know a free trade zone would be much more useful and helpful in this direction, this would answer the question if argentina and brazil are going to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the u. S. Or whatever country you know is interesting, youre not gonna be held back by politics or any of the other members cars. Anyone on to comment about a bilateral but the economy and latin america . Maybe ill go to the ambassador and mexico and say, what are the chances that we will get the u. S. And see a approved by all three of us and we can move forward sorry, to you have a point of view and his dad being talked about in mexico . Yes of course im a very clear point of view and a very big commitment, it was manifested with a unanimous approval by the mexican senate, who was not unanimous but almost it was to vote against it and some abstentions, so Mexican Government has fulfilled its commitment john gratifying usmca and linked to this him, to the promises or the president has regarding the Labor Movement also the congress in mexico past and improved the most comprehensive labor reform that weve had in 70 years and it is a labor reform that is revolutionary in a way that guarantees a free secret and personal vote and three different stages and how you elect leaders of a union how do you approve the mandates for a. Negotiation for a collective Bargaining Agreement and then how do you approve at the end by a free secret and personal vote to the collective Bargaining Agreement. These labor reforms is so ambitious that it is not to be implemented very quickly because they needs interview of 700,000 collective agreements so the government of mexico has already a time table on how to implement this labor reform. This timetable has been shared with the u. S. Trade representative, with the house of representatives and the senate. We have been working very hard with the hispanic caucus and particularly with the working group that was established by Speaker Pelosi and weve heard several studying the labor reform and along interviews with the minister of labour and i can tell you he had been an anecdote. Sorry and Representative Congress woman said mister president i voted against nafta but i am trying to find as Speaker Pelosi said a path to yes for usmca but i was opposed to nafta and she explained why and then the president said dont worry congress and when i was also opposed to nafta and let me tell you something after 25 years of deep integration we cannot go back to 30 years ago or 35. We have to acknowledge that our economies are fully integrated and so we need to have usmca ratified. That is even if the previous previous government negotiated this, not my government but people from the team participated as an observer in the last part of the negotiations, my government, of the new government of mexico is fully committed to the ratification of usmca, it is fully committed to what we approved the chapters on labour reform, on environmental reform and you know very well the changes between the agreements and now labor and environmental parts are an integral part of this this is a huge change so we are very surprised in thats why we always have a very constant dialog with the democrats, with the legislators saying, listen, you dreamed of this. You wished we could have labor and environmental aspects as part of the agreement, they are now part of it. So im grab, it when we discuss enforcement we say okay the labor reform and mexico has a very clear mechanism on enforcement so what we will see coming in 2020 is not just budget for the Labor Ministry but basically for the traditional power to start establishing a lab reports, so now the system for arbitration of labor disputes it has 45 days of an arbitration trying to get an agreement and if not you can go to the courts. These and for his been mechanisms will be controlled from an independent power, this is very important this is a very advanced system that doesnt even exist in the u. S. And even if you go to the u. S. Now, yes we have unions in the northern part. Most for example of the Car Manufacturers in the southern part of the u. S. Are now unionized so it is not fair to us mexico when you are not willing to do in your own country. So what we are saying, its a new labor system and mexico, its very revolutionary. It implied a very great sacrifice and commitment from the private sector mexico, would be very advanced so we expect contribution from the democrats and we know its important for them and we are telling them that we are ready and we have been ready and thats why we passed a reform and thats where we pass this implementation and we will have the budgeted and the enforcement mechanism within this is a dispute settlement mechanism, if it does not work its because the u. S. Has not provided the name and the list of the arbiters so we cant have an agreement that is an understanding that by the time the u. S. Congress ratify this, the three countries commit themselves to present a list of arbiters for each one of the mechanisms so that there will be no delays for arbitration when this is needed. Particularly if any of the parts consider that the lever chapter is not being fully implemented so having said that i have to comment that this ongoing im dialog with the u. S. Trade Representative Office as well with congress its been very fluid and open and i hope very fruitful. So i think now that the ball is in the fields of the u. S. Trade representative, as far as we know they have received certain proposals with the democrats and after work with them. We are following very closely and continuing this dialog with the u. S. Congress to say listen, mexico has done its part mexico is fully committed, we need a usmca, that all need to continue the growth of trade that is already there. Mexico has become the first trading partner of the u. S. For the First Six Months of the year and we will continue to do so and we need this agreement to give us stability also to the economies of the three countries, to give certainty to investment and to include that these usmca include chapters that were not included enough to like digital trade like fight against corruption law by a glow and Medium Enterprises and consultations with indigenous populations and gender. And away its a very progressive agreement and i use the word progressive with care because when i said the usmca has a progressive point of view i think the ambassador sometimes look at me like what law, so ok social and new dimensions of an agreement but i think the main message for all our audience in the u. S. Is, do not have any doubt of the commitment of the Mexican Government for usmca and we have been working very hard with congress, with the private sector and we think that the ratification of the usmcas a winwin for all of us and just showing how open we are and how engaged we are in this dialog, we have not only received coattails but mr. Was going to be in mexico, talking with president lopez salvador, listening to how this will be implemented in mexico in the following year. So i hope that we will have good news, we have been very encouraged of Speaker Pelosis statement about finding a path to yes for usmca and we hope the usmca will be ratified and i think this will also contribute to the image of the u. S. Of having a more consistent u. S. Trade policy. Well thats the most optimistic note. I have to be optimistic. Let me go to mr. Gonzalez, the eu currently has a number of trade agreements in the western hemisphere with Central America, with the Pacific Alliance, you recently concluded an agreement law. How do you see the European Energy on a trade of fixing the trade agenda for the future in the americas . I think thats a very important question because i think the role of the European Union is very important in this hemisphere and that has at least two dimensions. I think the first dimension is in the multilateral level. I think first of, all she was saying before and i cannot agree more, reforming the wto is in critical importance for this region, i think the European Union has taken a leadership role and trying to promote reform and latin american countries will do all to Work Together with the eu for this purpose. Second, i think that trade is very important. Trade is very important for latin america, to represent some 44 of gdp and china and the u. S. Together collectively represent about half of the trade with the region and if you la ad investment thats even greater so theyre both very important but today latin america is caught in the cross fire between the u. S. And china. It is impacted by chinas policies. Its impacted by the u. S. Response to china, the impacted has nominee multilateral trading system so i think its important for a lot in america to look beyond the u. S. And china and the eu comes in as a very natural partner. First the eu is the number one foreign investor in that america. Given greater than the u. S. And china which is very important to know second it is the third trade partner to the redid jim and it has as you rarely said law worked with many countries in the region. Last time i checked it was economic or Corporation Agreements with some 27 countries in this hemisphere so the eu has actually built a very Strong Foundation to promote integration between latin america and the European Union and if anything this so sure of as a wake up calls to other partners in the region as to the potential that the region has but also on the point that, well if we are not ready to move within our own hemisphere latin america will also find its way with other trading partners. Absolutely, all go to the audience so be thinking of a question that you would like to ask for my last question up here im going to ask secretary birch or, whats your assessment Going Forward to speaking to argentina on trade you face a contentious election and looking back over the past four years how do you see the next four years . That is also a hard question, right now argentinas going through an elections process which is highly sensitive and political terms. His presidency did a 360degree turn and International Relations and we continue to have very deep ties with virtually everyone in the world not only with what we were just talking about signing Free Trade Agreements through a very dynamic law but also a very broad and agile understanding of Free Trade Agreements and that is still part of what we have seen through my government but we do have High Expectations and our expectations in december and in october we will have the final round of elections, weve already had the first round but we know that the government gives as a strong push to keep working on the same lines, align that further deepens the foundations for the future. We are not all they have sat International Relations but we also paired the government with other institutions where weve done is hard to see in the short term but clearly all of our countries need to do that and it is consolidate our institutions. So whatever the outcome is in october or november if it has to go into that the important thing is to continue everything we have done in terms of economic integration are insertion into the World Economy because clearly the developing countries and the countries are live in poverty need jobs and everyone who is here. Is special on this note that experts and Foreign Trade is what allows our country to develop a much stronger economy and thats what argentina needs so clearly all of this agenda must continue and if the president gets reelected obviously that will be consolidated without a doubt. Symone who wants to ask the question we have microphones left and right symone please state your name and address the question. So i am an independent consultant and we know that in many ways multinationals have a lot of accesses can you discuss the programs provision proposals to allow smaller and Medium Sized Companies and brands to have more access to international markets, also how do we ensure the trade is more multilateral where we are not just nike in mexican malls but also columbia mexican and chilean brands as final products on store shelves here in the u. S. And one less point about how we ensure that free trade doesnt come at the costs to integrity to our forest and water waves and how do they account for, accounting for Climate Change impacts, thank you . Who would like to take that on . Maybe say a word on one of the questions that is posed, the issue of making trade more inclusive and i think that is a very important goal, that speaks to the participation to one of the Medium Sized Enterprises but it also speaks to the point so the issue is how we can connect more people to the benefits of trade and i have to say that as important trade policies are on one dimension they also are a set of domestic policies that are critical to make trade more inclusive, these policies include better transportation, posing infrastructure gases, reducing the cost of, trade greater education and skills for the population, so i think of a wants to work and making trade more inclusive which i think is critical to have Political Support for trade you also need to work in youre on domestic policies in a number of areas. Another question. Im going to ask the question in spanish, and an economic student from venezuela and id like to hear the opinions a mauricio, we are all talking about the law mercosur, and how its agenda has changed and i would like to get your opinion about the tools that it has to confront possible political changes, if there is a radical change for example what we expect to get in argentina for the couple months. What specific tools are available to prioritize the objectives of mircasul . What do we have in jean hand . To keep ourselves moving to these objectives regardless of political changes in the rege. Thats a very good question. In recent times from mircasul weve been proposing new objectives and also along the lines of what weve heard from the specialists up here. We need a mircasul thats not ideological and is flexible and is much more modern in terms of internal matters. Let me give you a specific example. Recently, after the signing of the mircasul eu agreement, the four members agreed this agreept agreement was going to be put into effect bilaterally. This was approved by the European Parliament and by the congresses of some of those countries. It would automatically go into effect. This makes it much more agile. Previously, you had to wait for the four congresses to do this. This means we wont lose, waste any more time, and can move forward to give the specific opportunities to our local companies in each country. I cant predict the future about what we expect. I can say mercosur today with the objective and current members understands the urgency of furthering integration by take bing a step toward the eumercosur agreement, also with the countries, and represent a much larger part of the gdp that has to continue to grow for for companies. I dont think we have to say anymore about the political situation. I think the partners we have are committed to this, were taking specific steps and this will have an immediate positive impact for our companies. Hello. Translator hola. My name is maria. George thats an easy question. Turn to you. Yeah. Ive been thinking a lot about the rhetoric policy in general these last 30 years. We can call it the great liberalization since the early90s. I think we made a mistake of overselling this thing. I mean, clearly, the way that this thing was sold, it was a way of, you know, solving all the growth problems, development problems, inequality. You know, it was like trade policies has superpowers that can address all issues that, you know, a society can have. Environment is one of them. I dont think in this regard, you know, i am pretty much, you know, a follower in the sense that i dont think trade policy is the right instrument to address thisese kind of issues. You need to have environmental yeah. Ive been thinking a lot about the rhetoric policy in general these last 30 years. We can call it the great liberalization since the early90s. I think we made a mistake of overselling this thing. I mean, clearly, the way that this thing was sold, it was a way of, you know, solving all the growth problems, development problems, inequality. You know, it was like trade policies has superpowers that can address all issues that, you know, a society can have. Environment is one of them. I dont think in this regard, you know, i am pretty much, you know, a follower in the sense that i dont think trade policy is the right instrument to address thisese kind of issues. You need to have environmental regulations just like you have to have gender, you know, you need to have, you know, Income Distribution policies and all those kind of things. Trade is not going to solve that problem. It hasnt solved not like were starting now, you know, and then were going to see what happens if we open the economy. We have been opening in most of the region, not all of the region, and, you know, some countries have grown. Others keep stuck, you at the same time most of the energy that is produced an mexicos in the southern part of mexico because our rigors is hydro power, so we have a nexus of production in certain parts that we have, that we can sell very competitive prices to Central America, we sell it to guatemala but there is a part of 30 kilometers that is not connected to guatemala and doesnt allow that this electricity runs up to honduras and el salvador for cheap prices, so when i said we, there is a model of integration, there is, and its based on cheap energy and interconnection of electricity and its a focus on the rural areas and agriculture and creation of employment. Tackling common challenges on Climate Change. Having the possibility of taking care of biodiversity. Just as you have and as you pay environmental services, we were already exploring in fao and the Global Environmental facility to pay for biodiversity services, so this is the kind of things that we are seeing and the final idea is not to crack on immigration but to give the people the opportunity to remain in their countries. And at the same time, we have to recognize that there is a very large young population in the Central American countries that will not be able to find jobs. And you have set by the National Association of manufacturers of the u. S. , you have 6 million posts that are not filled. So there are ways also to see how we can complement and return to the migration mexicans and Central Americans coming to work to the u. S. To h2a visas, h2b visas, expandsing the American Trucking association needs 60,000 drivers and they will not find them here. They will not find them here. So why dont we really sit at the table with these numbers and the statistics, not with ideology, but with facts and realities and said, okay, lets go through what can we complement, but we are absolutely convinced that the south and southeast part of mexico needs to be brought to the level of development that other regions of mexico have reached after nafta and that they were not able to reach, and at the same time, to work very closely with the Central American countries. Thats why we are also already implementing some of the programs of the government of mexico and Central America. We are going to see how successful we they are. We hope that they will be successful. Planting fruit trees and also training young people as apprentice ships but i think the idea is we have to to go from cracking on migration and to addressing the root causes of migration. Creating employment. Creating opportunities. And considering this area as a very very, very economically linked. If i give you data, you would be surprised. There are 2. 5 million illegal crossings between mexico and guatemala every year. Why . Because when we have the coffee harvest, its the guatemalans that go to pick up coffee in mexico. So what we need is to understand better how these flows are working and how to make pass them from the informal economy to the formal one and how to bring People Better opportunities, better salaries. But i think they are totally complementary and another area that we have been insisting with the u. S. Government and you may imagine that we did not consider a good measure to stop the aid to Central America, but we have said, no, listen, all the efforts that mexico can do, even with costa rica, with panama, with colombia, even with the European Union, will never be enough if we dont have the u. S. On board. If the u. S. Is not totally committed to the development of Central America. Nicely put. Question . Thank you to the panel. My name is marco. Im an economist. Ill throw another one. What do you see what do you think of the possibility that nafta repeal might still be used as a tool to Pressure Congress to pass usmca, and do you think that that threat may be off the table and we may end up with nafta . And would that be an acceptable outcome for mexico . Thank you. Thank you. I i hate i dont like the word, threat. I think threatening doesnt lead us to good policy. So i think what we need to understand is that for economic stability of the northern american region, of a very important economy like the mexican economy that its so crucial also for the u. S. , we need a framework. Being that framework, nafta or usmca. I think nafta brought many benefits. It was not equal benefits for all sectors. Not for all regions. There were regions and sectors that were losers. Both in mexico and the u. S. And canada. And others that were winners. But nafta being a good agreement for those sectors, it was already an old agreement. So i think usmca has areas that are very fundamental for the three countries. The information that i have after many long conversations with senators and congressmen is that they think that not to ratify usmca and at the same time pulling out of nafta would be a total catastrophe for the northern american region. So i dont think that this idea of using the threat of pulling out of nafta to have usmca ratified is a good idea. Usmca has to be considered and ratified based on its own merits, and we have also said to congress that it should not be considered also like a fight or an idea or if we give President Trump a political victory or not. The usmca has enough merits on its own to be considered like that in the first place and second, to ratify usmca is also to gesture a friendship toward mexico and toward canada because it will send the right signal from congress that they are on board for a common future. So we hope that when nafta when usmca is finally submitted, implementing legislation and it is considered, it will be considered based on its own merits and it will be considered with these geopolitical approach and friendship approach that mexico, the u. S. , and canada, to have even the u. S. Being the most powerful economy, they need canada and mexico to be competitive. If after that we can bring Central America, work with mercosur ll we reach this powerful free trade area of the americas, then that is maybe the objective in the future, but for now, please just consider usmca based on merits. Based on the absolute need of having a stable and competitive north american region which is beneficial for the three countries, and dont get it into internal politics because this will not lead us to any good result. Maybe im being too tough, but this is what we arehave been saying. Thats a very good lesson and one that we all should take in consideration. I thought your comment about the fact that trade benefits are not spread evenly is true in this country and we have to address that because the gains are very real, but everyone doesnt get the same sip from the cup, and, but your comments about mca are terrific and we all look forward to working with you to ensure that we dont have a total catastrophe. I think you will all join me in saying what a terrific panel this has been, and do stay for the next one. applause the National Security commission on Artificial Intelligence held at washington d. C. On the intersection between artifl
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