The trade agreement between the European Union and Mexico will be updated to include an energy chapter, the EU’s Executive Vice President for the Clean, Fair, and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, announced on Wednesday.

The new chapter of Europe’s trade deal with Mexico is expected to focus on the transition to clean and renewable energy, as well as energy and agri-food sustainability, Ribera said during her visit to Mexico.

“In recent months, we have reached an agreement to modernize a global agreement that over the last 25 years has brought very important benefits to our societies and our economy,” Ribera stated during a Wednesday press conference.

The agreement, which has enhanced trade relations between the two powers, was signed in 1997 and entered into force in 2000. The EU has since become the second-largest investor in Mexico and its third-largest trade partner globally.

Ribera discussed the geopolitical pressures being faced by several countries worldwide due to the United States trade war and the imposition of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“It is very difficult to predict what could happen because circumstances show that reality can change very quickly,” said Ribera.

The new energy chapter 

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Jan. 23 that the energy sector had been excluded from the EU-Mexico trade agreement.

However, during her visit, Ribera said that energy policies had been discussed in general terms, although it is not clear to what extent it is reflected in the agreement.

“There is close and intense cooperation on energy matters between the EU and Mexico,” said Ribera.

Unofficial sources said that the agreement is expected to be approved by the end of the year, pending the standard bureaucratic process for legislation in the EU, and an updated treaty has already been drafted, the Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported.

“Nothing is stopping the signing beyond the usual bureaucratic processes that we all must comply with, in our case, with a certain degree of complexity,” Ribera explained.

Ribera emphasized the importance of international cooperation to support a green transition, stressing that the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will not halt progress.

“The world has 192 countries, and if the United States leaves the agreement, the rest of us must continue,” she added.

With reports from La Jornada and El Sol de México