MFA: EU and Mexico reach agreement on modernising their trade relationship

"The future agreement is welcome, because it brings partly outdated trade rules up to date to correspond companies' needs, removes customs duties, and improves Finnish companies market opportunities in Mexico," says Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen. "The agreement is of a particular significance at this time when the openness of trade and related cooperation has been challenged in many fronts."

The new agreement will replace the previous Free Trade Agreement, which is one pillar of the wider EU-Mexico Global Agreement that has been in force since 2000. The content of the agreement is mainly ready but negotiations on some technical details will be continued. The agreement is expected to be finalised by the end of 2018.

The modernised trade agreement will cover a large part of trade in goods, related regulation and barriers to trade, as well as trade in services and investments. The agreement will eliminate the majority of the remaining customs duties. Additionally, service providers' market access will be facilitated in many areas. This is the first EU trade agreement to include provisions to fight corruption.

In 2017, the value of goods exports from Finland to Mexico was over EUR 309 million while the value of goods imports amounted to EUR 218 million. In 2016, Finland's exports in services to Mexico totalled approximately EUR 129 million and the value of imports was EUR 91 million.

Inquiries: Tuuli-Maaria Aalto, Diplomatic Adviser to Minister Mykkänen, tel. +358 40 352 0463, and Johanna Ala-Nikkola, Commercial Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 40 847 2178.

The Foreign Ministry's email addresses are of the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.