AMLO team and US officials hold first talks with eyes on Nafta

A major delegation of US officials, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, met Friday with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his future cabinet members, marking a first encounter with the incoming government as Nafta negotiations enter a critical transition period.

In a televised press conference with Pompeo at the end of the day's meetings, Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray thanked the US official for the visit, but said: "This is a moment of division in the relationship between the United States and Mexico, but it is also a moment of great opportunity," adding that the Peña Nieto administration would do all it could to capitalize on the transition period to improve relations.

Pompeo reiterated his government's commitment to improving Nafta and security along the border.

In a separate brief press conference after the earlier meeting, AMLO's nominee for foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, expressed hopeful optimism about US-Mexico relations with the incoming government, stressing the "the four chief areas of US-Mexico relations" as firstly enhancing trade and Nafta talks; discussing how can Mexico prevent migration related to crime and poverty; finding a way to include Central America in the development conversation, and updating and advancing joint security efforts between the two countries.

Nominated to the post barely a week before, Ebrard confirmed that he had presented the US delegation with a formal letter from the transition government outlining policy objectives involving the US, including Nafta goals and plans for a new development scheme with Central America.

Other key US officials attending Friday's events included US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and White House senior advisor - and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has played a major role in the Nafta talks, particularly in his relationship with Videgaray.

Pictured: Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel López Obrador (C) shakes hands with White House advisor Jared Kushner (2-R) next to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (2-L), US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and Mexico's soon-to-be foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard (R) at López Obrador's party headquarters in Mexico City, on July 13.