Channel News Asia

The European Union and Mexico will launch negotiations towards a new free-trade agreement later this year, as Europe seeks to tie its economy closer to North America following a deal with Canada and efforts to sign an accord with the United States.

Building on a pact with Mexico from 2000, the European Union hopes to create a transatlantic free-trade zone and help set the global rules of commerce before China does. Mexico is jumping ahead of Brazil, whose talks towards a similar deal with the European Union have stalled.

“We are ready to commit to a highly ambitious deal,” EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told a forum in Brussels alongside Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/europe-mexico-to-seek-ne/1839512.html