Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal Quotes

"NAFTA has been a great success for the three countries involved."

"Opening the Pandora's box of tariffs will be an endless game, and it will be a lose-lose proposition."

"The Pacific Alliance is an initiative to align our economies."

"You cannot have an agreement... that gives a tailor's cut, a perfect handiwork, to a specific company."

"We believe more in bridges and making the border better."

"At the end of the day, we have to find a way to compete better with the world."

"It makes no sense to introduce an agreement with border restrictions or tariffs."

"We have to find common grounds. NAFTA is 22 years old. We need to modernize it."

"We understand U.S. position, but we have to find a way to make trade translate into better jobs in North America."

"Mexico's government has made a strong commitment to boosting the country's competitiveness in global trade, and the Ministry of Economy recognizes that trade facilitation is a key element in achieving this objective."

"The end-to-end value chain analysis proposed by the World Economic Forum has proved to be useful methodology, not only to identify trade barriers but also to highlight the importance of coordination among public-sector institutions."

"Free trade and economic stability do not, by themselves, guarantee success."

"The next generation of entrepreneurs are already named Martinez or Sanchez."

"The actions taken by the Cuban government with its new trade zone open up the potential of strategic investments from Mexico. Mexican companies are very excited."

"You cannot set salaries by decree. At the end of the day, it doesn't work with the market. What you can make sure to do is to train workers in order to make them more efficient and demand higher salaries because of their qualifications."

"If a private investor is raising his hand and saying, 'I don't have the conditions with which to work,' then the government has the responsibility to create those conditions."

"I do believe that as the country becomes more attractive in the manufacturing sector, salaries can improve, and opportunities can expand."

"We have to start a process of looking at what's next after we complete the modernization effort."

"NAFTA is a trilateral agreement, and it would make a lot of sense to have trilateral discussions."

"If you throw obstacles at the relationship with Mexico, you would be shooting yourself in the foot."

"The U.S. is a sovereign nation, and if the U.S. decides to build a wall on the southern border, it's their sovereign decision. We may like it or not."

"E-commerce, telecom - those things have to be captured by the new NAFTA."

"Let me first clarify that NAFTA is a trilateral agreement. The decision of walking away is not of Mexico or Canada. The decision of walking away is of the U.S."

"At the end of the day, we have obviously our own political realities that will not allow us to approve something that is not in the benefit of everybody."

"If we have to talk to the devil to guarantee the safety and future of the Mexican people in the U.S., Mexico will talk to the devil."

"There won't be a law with sanctions, but Mexicans and Mexican consumers will know how to value those companies that are loyal to our national identity and those that are not."

"Since its enforcement, NAFTA has been more than a trade agreement. It has made us think of ourselves as a region."

"We can be a very natural partner as a support base for Ireland to use Mexico to enter into the North American and South American markets and for Mexico, in turn, to really take advantage of Ireland as a gateway to the European markets."

"Mexico is very well positioned in the IT sector, thanks to our closeness to North America and how things are being developed in Silicon Valley."

"I'm not going to negotiate with Brazil for its pretty face. I'm going to negotiate with Brazil because they're going to open their car-manufacturing market."