The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, speaks at a press conference in the National Palace, Mexico City, August 7, 2019. (Xinhua/Str)
All three countries signed the deal, an updated version of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but only Mexico's Congress has approved it.
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The full ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will help Mexico's economy weather global financial uncertainty, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday.
Amid fears of a possible economic recession, the president ruled out the need to resort to "extraordinary measures," such as a tax increase.
Instead, he said, he was banking on the free trade agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States to shore up the economy.
All three countries signed the deal, an updated version of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but only Mexico's Congress has approved it.
"I hope that the free trade agreement gets approved (in the U.S. and Canada). That is going to give us more stability, it will anchor the economy even more to be able to withstand uncertainty, ups and downs, external issues," Lopez Obrador said.
"Because the economy is doing well, we don't need any extraordinary measures," Lopez Obrador added.
The president attributed the good state of the economy to his administration's anti-corruption campaign and austerity measures designed to rein in excessive government spending.
"We could have the best economic model, the most perfect, but with the level of corruption that existed in Mexico, any economic model was doomed to fail," he said.
