MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The United States hopes that an agreement can be reached over a contentious electricity reform proposal currently in Mexico’s Congress, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, who expressed “serious concerns” about the bill last week, said on Tuesday.
Mexican lawmakers last week postponed until next year debate on the bill to strengthen state control of the power market at the expense of private companies.
Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said the electricity proposal was being studied, and that he believed that a “resolution” could still be found on the matter.
When asked if the legislation breached Mexico’s trade commitments with the United States and Canada, Salazar noted that U.S. companies had invested many millions of dollars in Mexico’s renewable energy sector.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has championed the electricity overhaul, arguing that previous Mexican governments rigged the market in favor of private capital to the detriment of consumers and Mexico’s state run energy companies.
(Reporting by Dave Graham, writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
