MEXICO CITY, Aug 29 (AFP): It is still early to declare winners and losers in the new US-Mexican trade deal, but in Mexico it looks like an unexpected victory for leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Announced with typical flare by US President Donald Trump on Monday, the two-way deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement meanwhile left NAFTA's third member, Canada, out in the cold - at least for now.
In Mexico, the news brought a collective sigh of relief: finally, months of uncertainty over the country's most important trade relationship appeared to be over.
All three countries had been rushing to finish a deal before Lopez Obrador, a sometimes brutal critic of free trade, takes office on December 1.
But ironically, according to nearly everyone involved, Lopez Obrador and his team played a key role in sealing the deal, after being invited to join the negotiations by current President Enrique Pena Nieto.
"Speaking with and working President-elect Lopez Obrador has been absolutely a very, very special time," said Trump.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Lopez Obrador's backing was "essential," while Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said the president-elect's delegate to the talks, Jesus Seade, played a "fundamental role."
The politician known as "AMLO," who won a landslide election victory on July 1, had attacked NAFTA in the past.
But pragmatism appears to have won out over ideology.
"It's a win for Lopez Obrador, on so many levels," said Mexican economist Valeria Moy.
