washington<u+2014>mexican finance minister<u+00a0>jos<u+00e9> antonio meade<u+00a0>warned in an interview<u+00a0>saturday<u+00a0>that adopting protectionist measures would hurt both the u.s. and mexican economies. the recent rise of antitrade political forces around the world, particularly in the u.s. where donald trump won the republican presidential nomination on a protectionist platform, has worried finance ministers and central bankers assembled here for the fall meetings of the international monetary fund. that concern is particularly acute in mexico, where exports account for about 35% of the economy. mr. trump has threatened to pull the u.s. out of the north american free trade agreement if elected, ending a 22-year-old trade pact that has helped open up the mexican economy. <u+201c>mexico is integral to the north american story,<u+201d> mr. meade said in an interview with the wall street journal on the sidelines of the meetings. imposing trade restrictions in the u.s. <u+201c>would not be consistent with strengthening either of our economies.<u+201d> u.s.-mexico trade has evolved significantly since the early days of nafta, mr. meade said. rather than trading finished goods, north american countries now move products across borders multiple times before they are ready for their final sale. <u+201c>every time mexico exports a dollar, 40 cents of it comes out of goods produced within the u.s.,<u+201d> he said. that is particularly true with airplanes, he said. <u+201c>you have turbines made in mexico that are assembled here [in the u.s.] using canadian elements,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>every time a plane is sold, the components that are part of that plane come from the three countries. so if any one of the three is successful in gaining market share elsewhere in the world, that means that all three of us are successful.<u+201d> mr. meade said the mexican government has been closely following the presidential election campaign in the u.s., though he didn<u+2019>t directly discuss mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign. mr. meade was appointed to his current position last month after his predecessor, luis videgaray, resigned after being blamed for organizing mr. trump<u+2019>s<u+00a0>aug. 31<u+00a0>visit to mexico that was widely considered a disaster in the country. <u+201c>if you look at the elements of the relationship there<u+2019>s no single aspect of the value of the relationship where mexico does not play a significant role in the u.s. and where the u.s. does not play a significant role in mexico,<u+201d> he said. as part of its effort to broaden its global reach, mexico has spent the past few years trying to wean itself off oil exports as a major economic driver. oil accounted for 6% of the country<u+2019>s exports in 2015, down from 14% in 2012. on the fiscal side, mr. meade said the government of president<u+00a0>enrique pe<u+00f1>a nieto<u+00a0>had tried to expand value added, income and excise taxes. the government has also sought to attract more investment by making regulatory changes affecting the telecommunications and energy industries. <u+201c>the thing that keeps us up at night is how do we make mexico more resilient to whatever is out there,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>we face a lot of uncertainty. and with mexico becoming more global and in general the global economy becoming more interconnected, the challenge for a country like mexico is how we can deal with resilience in our economy to deal with whatever the next big thing is.<u+201d>
mexican finance minister: trade protectionism would hurt u.s. as well as mexico    - wsj
david harrison