MEXICO CITY/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian and Mexican authorities said on Monday they see the need to review and expand their current trade agreements, in a bid to strengthen ties between Latin America’s two largest economies. strengthen.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in Mexico as part of an official government visit, during which he will attend the inauguration ceremony of Claudia Sheinbaum as president of Mexico on Tuesday.
Mexico and Brazil have a trade agreement from the early 2000s that stipulates the exemption or reduction of import duties on some 800 types of products.
“The growth of our relationship has already surpassed that agreement,” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s new economy minister, said on the sidelines of an event on Monday. “We need to update it,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Lula said at the same event that trade agreements between the two countries, which also include a deal regulating trade in vehicles and auto parts, should be reviewed as soon as possible.
“I want our industries to grow, our agriculture to grow, I want Brazil and Mexico to invest in building artificial intelligence that can bring us economic benefits,” he said in his speech, without giving more details.
During the event, Lula also suggested that the trade deal being discussed between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur bloc could be extended to Latin America in the future.
(Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City; Eduardo Simoes and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Editing by Chris Reese, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Edward Tobin)