Globalization: Agriculture, the big trade off for the Korea-Mexico FTA

Agriculture, the big trade off for the Korea-Mexico FTA

"Mexico, like Korea, is a country heavily dependent on exports to sustain its economic growth, but the two countries are currently not seeing eye-to-eye over a possible trade deal.

For both countries, it is not as simple as previous free trade agreements signed with other economies.

Only recently has Korea entered the free trade agreement game while Mexico has signed FTAs with more than 50 countries, including Japan, putting more than 90 percent of its trade under free trade agreements.

“There are some treaties like the one with Japan that we have not been able to profit from. However, we are aware that the real economic potential is in Asia,” said First Vice President of the Mexican Senate Francisco Arroyo.

There are several reasons why the Korea-Mexico FTA has not moved ahead: one is that Korean companies point the finger at Mexico’s manufacturing sector while agriculture remains a hot issue in Korea.

Talks began in 2007 but little progress has been made since then.

“We would like to be able to export everything that has to do with our agroindustry where we have many very good products and of course we can offer very favorable conditions for Korean enterprises to invest in Mexico,” Arroyo told The Korea Herald."