MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Vicente Fox said Wednesday his administration is open to the possibility of renegotiating agricultural tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement — although he warned that the move wouldn't benefit Mexico.
It was the first time Fox has talked of the possibility of renegotiating NAFTA provisions that lifted tariffs Jan. 1 on many U.S. farm products. Before, he had said the Mexican government would live with the changes — angering farmers across the country who have periodically threatened to block roads and crossings at the U.S. border.
Speaking in northern Zacatecas state, Fox said Mexico posted a trade surplus of US$27 billion with the United States in the first nine months of 2002, and that the surplus could exceed US$30 billion in 2002.
"We export more agricultural products than we import," Fox said. "It wouldn't be fair, by seeking a solution for areas that have competitive difficulties, to close the door to all those products that we export to the world and particularly to the United States.
"We must be very careful with such a revision."
Fox has argued that the NAFTA changes will make Mexican farmers more competitive, and he's offered to help them modernize and give them special rates on electricity and diesel fuel.
Farmers called off protests scheduled for Jan. 1 after Fox agreed to negotiate a farm accord, but Agriculture Minister Javier Usabiaga remains unpopular among agricultural groups.
Fox continued on to the border city of Reynosa late Thursday, where he was confronted by a group of truck drivers who said U.S. authorities are levying unfair fines against Mexican rigs who cross into a free-trade zone on the Texas side of the border.
"We are asking the president to help because if we don't find a positive solution soon, many small trucking companies will be put out of business," said Oscar Garza, head of a truckers' rights group based in Reynosa.
Fox said the fair treatment of Mexican truckers who haul cargo to the border or into the United States remains a top priority for his government.
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