The Mexican Senate approved the draft decree to ratify the protocol replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) and parallel agreements.

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The Mexican Senate approved a new North American trade agreement, making Mexico the first country to ratify an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump has promoted as his flagship trade achievement, which must be approved by the legislatures of those countries before it can enter into force.

"This is very good news. This means that there is unity and that we agree to strengthen our relations with the United States and Canada, we are betting on free trade."

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Presidente de México

However, the road to approval has faced the biggest hurdles in Washington, where Democrats in the U.S. Congress have raised concerns about Mexico's enforcement of labor rights and environmental law.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has described the agreement as a guarantee of stability for the country's economy, the road to approval has been easier.

A few months ago Mexico overtook Canada to become the United States' largest trading partner and the largest market for U.S. products. About $1.7 billion in goods cross the U.S. southern border every day in both directions.

Unfortunately, not everything turns out to be positive for the country. The Mexican government accepted that the U.S. government will withdraw the permits for cargo trucking companies to travel through the country, while the generic drug industry will have to wait 10 years to have access to the patents.

In addition, the mechanisms for resolving trade disputes were not strengthened with respect to the North American Free Trade Agreement, among other issues in which there were losses.

Prepared by CAINTRA, with information from El Financiero, Milenio, Forbes, El Economista, and The New York Times.