Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray: Thank you, good afternoon everyone, thank you for coming.

It is a great honor and great joy for the Mexican government to have Minister Chrystia Freeland here in Mexico City this morning.

Thank you, Chrystia, for being here. It shows how important the relationship is for both countries, and the enormous opportunities we create when we work together.

The relationship between Mexico and Canada is a close, large and important relationship.

We not only share trade and economic ties, we also share tourism, Mexican workers who cultivate Canadian fields and student exchanges: young Mexicans who study in Canada and Canadians who study in Mexico.

But above and beyond all these exchanges, what Canada and Mexico share are values ​​and principles.

Principles such as a world where governments are democratic, where openness prevails-- trade openness, freedom of migration; where we work together for a sustainable world and make real and effective efforts to combat climate change.

These values, our belief that multilateral forums and collective efforts are the right way to solve the common problems of humanity, are principles, values ​​that unite us and put us on a common path.

Today, in addition to participating in the Council of the Americas' public event, we held several meetings and we still have more to do today. In a few more minutes, Minister Freeland will visit President Enrique Peña Nieto in Los Pinos. All of this is part of our broad bilateral agenda, which has great potential.

Of course, one of the bilateral issues is the possible, or imminent, modernization of our trilateral agreement in North America, about which the Economy Secretary, who heads the trade talks, will speak in a moment.

I would just like to extend our warmest welcome to Minister Freeland; thank you Chrystia for being here.

And I would also like to reiterate that Mexico firmly believes in the relationship with Canada.

Thank you.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question: Good afternoon, Agustín Rodríguez de Tv Azteca. I would like to ask you, given President Trump's very hardline stance on the NAFTA renegotiation, which areas--I don't know if you have already talked about this--would you be willing to back down from or sacrifice, and on what points will you maintain a common front or take a strong position with President Trump?

And a second question, the Foreign Minister very briefly mentioned the issue of Venezuela. What would be the position of Mexico and Canada regarding the critical situation in Venezuela?

Minister Chrystia Freeland: Ok, thank you. About NAFTA and the renegotiation, I think it is very important to understand that the Canadian perspective on trade agreements is that they are win-win agreements. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, trade is something that enriches our country, creates well-paid jobs for the middle class, and we have a fantastic example of that trade agreement.

Renegotiating NAFTA involves modernizing that agreement and will bring better economic options for the three countries; that is the Canadian approach.

Having said that, let me also be very clear: Canada will defend our trade and economic interests and defend our core values. We have always done that and we will continue to do so in the negotiation.

Regarding the case of Venezuela, this is a serious situation for Canada. We are involved in the OAS efforts to find a solution.

We have been working very closely with our Mexican allies and the OAS Secretary. It is a crisis situation that is causing tremendous violence for the people of Venezuela and all of the countries of the hemisphere are concerned.

We will discuss this in the emergency session that we Foreign Ministers and the OAS will hold next week.

Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo: During the talks on the strategies to take as we move forward, we have had broad agreement on fundamental principles that will allow us to develop the conversation in a very intelligent manner.  Principles such as: we firmly believe that trade is an engine of growth and development, and that there can be integration, it can evolve from pursuing the national interests of the three nations.

Foreign Secretary Videgaray said this morning that Mexico first, Canada first and the United States first does not preclude an integration that allows us to advance through regional integration in our national interests.

So this exercise has been very productive in confirming our visions and being able to clearly identify which fundamental principles we are going to stick with in the development of the three nations.

Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray: On the subject of what is happening in Venezuela, the Mexican government has reiterated time and time again our grave concern regarding the acts of violence, and we call on the parties, including the Venezuelan government, to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

It's a complex and serious conflict in which the economic situation is undoubtedly precarious, in which violence has become a daily event in the public demonstrations, and in which there is a distortion of the democratic order. Mexico will continue to work within the Organization of American States with countries with which we share a vision of democracy in the region and the key principles that must govern the continent, and one of these is certainly Canada.

We will continue to work closely with the Minister and her team to contribute--through diplomatic channels-- to a serious situation that is up to Venezuelans to resolve.

The path has to be one of mediation and political agreement and certainly not one of violence, and Mexico together with the community of Inter-American States [will] contribute through diplomatic channels.

Question: Good afternoon, I have some questions. Minister Freeland, What does Canada expect to hear from Trump about trade, NATO and the G7 and G8 meetings?

And to the Foreign Secretary (inaudible) has said that the collapse of NAFTA would put Mexico into a recession, I don't know if you want to say if you agree with that?

And, separately, what is the status of the TPP negotiations at this time?

Minister Chrystia Freeland: Ok, as to the first question, as Minister of Canada, I don't think it's very smart to answer hypothetical questions.

My job is to speak on behalf of Canada and our position. Having said that, let me tell you that we have a very solid and productive [...] with the United States administration at all levels, the Secretaries, the White House, Congress, we have had productive visits led by the Prime Minister and we hope to have very positive dialogues in NATO, in the G7 and the G8, and I will be joining the Prime Minister in a couple of days.

Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray: What consequences would canceling the FTA have? Above all, it would be a missed opportunity because we believe that NAFTA is a good thing for all three economies and it is something that can certainly be improved.

Chrystia said it a moment ago: it is an agreement that was negotiated 25 years ago. The world has changed and we have to update it, modernize it.

Regarding the treaty, we have also learned that of course we can improve it. We have one of the best teams in the world for negotiating the FTA, and the Economy Secretary, who is in charge of that, is here today. It certainly wouldn't be the best economic scenario for Mexico but, above all, as a region we would be missing a great opportunity to continue down the path of greater integration and of turning North America into what it can be, which is the most competitive and fastest growing region over the next decades.

Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo: Regarding your question about the TPP, I would like to say that during the APEC meeting in Vietnam, we had a meeting of what is now called the TPP 11, where we basically built on a meeting of chief negotiators in Toronto (hosted by Canada) to define a process for the future where the idea is to find ways in which we can make progress.

This began with Japan's redefinition [of the TPP]. Originally Japan didn't plan on going any further than (inaudible), hoping that someday the United States would change its mind. But the rest of the countries told it that this wasn't possible politically, so Japan put another option on the table, which is the possibility of trying to adopt the TPP and analyzing in what context to leave the agreements in the various areas to help other countries to return or help the original signatories to view it favorably.

We will discuss this again at a meeting hosted by the Japanese for the head negotiators and then we will bring a proposal to the APEC summit that will take place in Vietnam in November.

Question: Foreign Secretary Videgaray, in your talk this morning you said that it wasn't ideal for the renegotiation to take place during next year's elections. What risk do you see in having the renegotiation take place in this political environment, the one in Mexico, specifically, and considering that there will also be elections in the United States?

And, Foreign Minister Freeland, I would like to know if Canada has a plan B in case the United States says that there won't be a trilateral renegotiation, that it will be bilateral (United States-Canada, United States-Mexico )? Thank you.

Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray: On the subject of the electoral cycle, it is a fact that reaching trade agreements while an election is taking place is a complex process, not only in Mexico but in any democracy. Therefore, the Economy Ministry, Secretary Guajardo and his team have been working hard to conclude our ongoing trade negotiations in the current year.

Beginning with the process of modernizing the agreement with Europe, the new trade agreements with Brazil, with Argentina, and possibly some other agreements that Secretary Guajardo might discuss.

But this is because of the very nature of the political debate that takes place during an election. We believe that it is a process that would add a degree of difficulty to the process, and therefore it is better to [negotiate] when there is no elections and, it's true, in the United States as well, towards the end of the year, November, there will be midterm elections which will surely complicate a discussion about the FTA; that is our position.

We believe that the FTA is a great opportunity; it should continue. We can make it better; and it should be done soon in order to give certainty to investors; to those who hire staff, to those who invest in Mexico, and for the financial markets, as well, and we are convinced that in any democracy, renegotiating is less complex when it doesn't take place in an election season.

Minister Chrystia Freeland: Thank you for the question.

We have mentioned the excellence of the Mexican trade negotiators, and I certainly believe that is the case, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also praise our own team; as a country that is interested in trade negotiations, we have a lot of experience and we give it the highest priority.

So for us, when it comes to modernizing a trilateral agreement, it is simply a matter of common sense. A trilateral agreement can only be negotiated at a trilateral table. That is simply the nature of trade agreements and this, very clearly, is the Canadian position.

Having said this, of course the three NAFTA countries have bilateral issues, including economic ones. And we have successfully negotiated, for example, the sale of Canadian meat to Mexico.

My father has always been a cattleman and ranch owner and he has been very interested in trade with Mexico, I must say.

And of course both Mexico and Canada have bilateral issues that we can comment on. All of you are familiar with the sugar issue that Ildefonso is negotiating at the moment and I imagine you know that we Canadians are also negotiating this with our counterparts. All of us in this triangle have bilateral issues along each line of the triangle, but the agreement itself is a trilateral agreement and the only way to modernize it is in a trilateral negotiation. It's going to be fun.