CBJ — Mexico’s new foreign relations secretary says his country isn’t just willing to negotiate changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, it wants to start talks as soon as possible.

Luis Videgaray says there’s “enormous uncertainty” following the U.S. election of Donald Trump, who has pressured American companies not to move jobs to Mexico, warning he would tax those who do, and has vowed to renegotiate NAFTA.

Mexico’s peso has continued to slide since Trump’s election.

Videgaray said his government’s main concern would be “how to protect jobs in Mexico,” and said “there are a lot of reasons to think the negotiation would be favourable for Mexico. He said Mexico is willing to negotiate over Trump’s plan to build a border wall. But Videgaray said Mexico won’t pay for the wall, calling that “unacceptable.”

Mexican manufacturing sectors such as the auto industry have benefited greatly from NAFTA, which went into effect in 1994. But wages haven’t risen much and Mexican farmers complain about massive imports of U.S. grain and other farm products.

While Trump may not be able to literally get a cheque for a wall, some have said he would be able to get Mexico to essentially pay for it through higher trade tariffs when importing their products into the U.S.

@CanBizJournal

(Pictured: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto)