As Washington events go these days, the hearing on the North American Free Trade Agreement was a snoozer: panel after panel of speakers reading five-minute-long statements, one after another, followed by a round of questions from a team of government bureaucrats.

Yet the three-day public session this week made clear the extensive and intensive interest in the Trump administration’s upcoming renegotiation of NAFTA.

SHANGHAI — China is open to negotiating a free-trade agreement with Mexico, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Chinese ambassador to the country, a fillip for Mexico as it faces uncertainty over its trade deals with the United States.

Qiu Xiaoqi, China’s ambassador to Mexico, said China was willing to discuss a free-trade agreement, although no discussions had been held so far, Xinhua said. Qiu was speaking at an academic event in Mexico City.

“If we negotiate a free-trade agreement, this will greatly favour trade exchanges between our two countries. There is no difficulty from China’s side,” he said.

“Mexico is China’s second-largest trading partner in Latin America and China is Mexico’s second-largest trading partner in the world. This is a highly important relationship and we have great interest in deepening and broadening these ties.”

Mexico is keen to cut its economic reliance on the United States out of concern that access to its top trade partner may be restricted the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to protect U.S. jobs from going outside the country.

China and Mexico have been strengthening ties since late last year as the United States has stepped back from global trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Trump previously also threatened to ditch the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, United States and Canada, raising pressure on Mexico to reduce dependency on the United States, where it sends 80 percent of its goods exports.

The Trump administration has recently become more conciliatory, and Mexico and the United States have expressed confidence that the renegotiation of NAFTA, expected to begin in August, could benefit both nations.

Qiu’s comments are nonetheless a potential boost for President Enrique Pena Nieto, whose attitude towards China has been mixed – leading to an off-and-on trade relationship.

“I think any agreement to make trade easier is very worthy,” Qiu told the media after a speech at the National Autonomous University of Mexico to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.

Japan’s Takata Corp (7312.T), at the center of the auto industry’s biggest-ever product recall, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Japan, and said it had agreed to be largely acquired for $1.6 billion by the Chinese-owned U.S.-based Key Safety Systems.

In the biggest bankruptcy of a Japanese manufacturer, Takata faces tens of billions of dollars in costs and liabilities resulting from almost a decade of recalls and lawsuits. Its airbag inflators have been linked to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries around the world because they can rupture and send metal fragments flying.

TK Holdings, its U.S. operations, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Sunday with liabilities of $10 billion to $50 billion, while the Japanese parent filed for protection with the Tokyo District Court early on Monday.

Scott Caudill, chief operating officer of TK Holdings, said in a court affidavit that the company “faces insurmountable claims” relating to the recalls and owes billions of dollars to automakers. He disclosed that Takata has recalled, or expects to recall, by 2019 about 125 million vehicles worldwide, including more than 60 million in the United States.

Takata’s total liabilities stand at 1.7 trillion yen ($15 billion), Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd estimated.

Final liabilities would depend on the outcome of discussions with carmaker customers who have borne the bulk of the replacement costs, a lawyer for the company said.

The filings open the door to the financial rescue by Key Safety Systems (KSS), a Michigan-based parts supplier owned by China’s Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp (600699.SS).

In a deal that took 16 months to hammer out, KSS agreed to take over Takata’s viable operations, while the remaining operations will be reorganized to continue churning out millions of replacement airbag inflators, the two firms said.

The U.S. company would keep “substantially all” of Takata’s 60,000 employees in 23 countries and maintain its factories in Japan. The agreement is meant to allow Takata to continue operating without interruptions and with minimal disruptions to its supply chain.

“We believe taking these actions in Japan and the U.S. is the best way to address the ongoing costs and liabilities of the

airbag inflator issues with certainty and in an organized manner,” Takata CEO Shigehisa Takada said in a statement.

The remainder of Takata assets will be reorganized to produce replacement inflators, but it is not clear how long they will operate.

Takata said it plans to continue building older model inflators for as long as five years at plants in China, Washington state and Mexico. It will not continue producing those inflators at a plant in Germany.

CEO Takada said he and top management would resign “when the timing of the restructuring is set.” His family – which still has control of the 84-year-old company – likely would cease to be shareholders.

Takata in February pleaded in a U.S. federal court to a felony charge as part of a $1-billion settlement that included compensation funds for automakers and victims of its faulty airbag inflators. The company expects to honor the terms of the agreement and pay the $850 million due for automaker compensation. Three former senior Takata executives were charged in January in a U.S. court with falsifying test results but have not made a court appearance.

About two-thirds of 46.2 million recalled Takata inflators in the United States have not been fixed. In June 2016, federal regulators said inflators in 2001-2003 model Honda and Acura vehicles have up to a 50-percent chance of a dangerous airbag inflator rupture in a crash and urged owners to stop driving until repairs were made.

The companies expect to seal definitive agreements for the sale in coming weeks and complete the twin bankruptcy processes in the first quarter of 2018.

Takata warned in bankruptcy documents that if it does not complete the restructuring by March and complete payments owed under the deal, the Justice Department could withdraw the plea agreement and seek higher penalties.

It also faces hundreds of lawsuits and claims in the United States, Mexico and Canada, including consumer protection lawsuits filed by three states and 100 personal injury and wrongful death claims. A judge in the U.S. Virgin Islands action had ordered Takata recently to pay $8 million into an escrow account but the payment has not been made, Takata said.

AUSTIN — Texas’ largest business associations are forming a coalition to protect and foster trade opportunities between the United States and Mexico amid a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement spearheaded by the Trump administration.

The Texas-Mexico Trade Coalition will officially launch on Thursday and includes the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Business Leadership Council and the Borderplex Alliance. The alliance includes business operations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

“It is designed to inform Texas policymakers about how important bilateral trade with Mexico is to the state’s economy and to urge political leaders in the Lone Star State to actively engage in the process of the renegotiation and modernizing and strengthening of NAFTA,” said Jon Barela, CEO of the Borderplex Alliance, a regional economic development organization for El Paso, Southern New Mexico and northern Mexico.

“There have been some efforts (to collaborate) here and there, but this is unique in the sense that this coalition is and does represent businesses large and small throughout Texas who all recognize the value of the bilateral economic relationship and see it as an opportunity to create even more jobs in Texas and throughout our region,” Barela said.

President Donald Trump pledged to renegotiate NAFTA early in his presidency and has threatened to withdraw entirely from the pact if Mexico and Canada don’t agree to make changes that give “American workers a fair deal.”

In May, the Trump administration officially informed Congress of its intent to renegotiate, starting the clock on a 90-day period of consultation with lawmakers and interested parties over how to revise the agreement. Trump, who once called NAFTA “a disaster,” has asked that the deal protect factory workers in the U.S. and be revised to reflect modern technologies.

Members of the Texas-Mexico Trade Coalition are urging lawmakers to protect the “deep economic ties” between Texas and Mexico and to modernize the agreement to include new industry and technologies.

“The relationship benefits both countries economically, and we want it to continue to do so,” Jeff Moseley, CEO of the Texas Association of Business, said in a statement. “Our goal is to make sure that our voices are heard in any conversations that might impact that relationship and to provide real data from Texas and Mexico businesses to guide discussions at all levels of government.”

In 2016, the United States exported about $262 billion in goods and services to Mexico — $93 billion of which came from Texas. Trade with Mexico supported about 1.2 million U.S. jobs in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Trade with Canada supported about 1.6 million jobs.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said during an event in El Paso earlier this month that revamping the trade agreement will have a positive economic impact on Texas.

“NAFTA is essential to our economic prosperity. If after 24 years it needs a tuneup, no one should be surprised,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also supports the NAFTA renegotiation and said opening Mexico’s energy resources to American should be a priority as it could “produce thousands of high-paying jobs in Mexico and in Texas.”

MIAMI (AP) — Mexico’s foreign minister says the country is “inevitably” set to review rules of origin when renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, giving a boost to President Donald Trump’s manufacturing push.

Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray said on Tuesday at an event in Miami that NAFTA has allowed Mexican industry to enter the U.S. market with lax rules of origin. The rules dictate how much U.S. content a product assembled in Mexico must have in order to escape tariffs when being imported into the United States. Currently set at 62.5 percent for the auto industry, that number could increase.

“One part that must inevitably be reviewed is the chapter on rules of origin,” Videgaray said at the University of Miami. “Over time, the free trade agreement has sometimes been used, not always of course, but sometimes as a way to access the U.S. market perhaps with laxity in some ways of rules of origin.”

The Trump administration told Congress earlier this month there would be 90 days of consultations on the renegotiation of the 23-year-old pact before beginning talks with Canada and Mexico. Annual trade of goods between Mexico and the U.S. was at $525 billion in 2016, with the U.S. running a trade deficit of more than $63 billion.

The foreign minister said Mexico won’t entertain any talks on building a wall along the border. Videgaray maintained it is seen as an unfriendly sign and questioned its efficiency. Trump’s budget seeks $2.6 billion for border security technology, including money to design and build a wall along the southern border. Trump repeatedly promised voters during the campaign that Mexico would pay for a wall.

Investors at an energy expo in Mexico City last week got a sneak peek at San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp.’s plans to spend $200 million building new fuel storage across the border.

Valero executives at the Onexpo conference May 17-19 said their investment would pay for 1.6 million barrels of storage in three locations. The largest terminal would store 925,000 barrels in the Gulf Coast city of Altamira in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state and would supply refined fuels into Mexico, according to reporting by Mexican newspaper Milenio.

“Valero representatives recently met with potential clients about proposed plans to distribute Valero-branded fuels in Mexico,” Valero spokeswoman Lillian Riojas said in an email. “The plans are in the works and continue to evolve as we hone our strategy to further serve the Mexico market.”

Valero will also build a 325,000-barrel terminal in Monterrey and one in San Luis Potosi. The largest U.S. refiner will also allow its brand to be licensed by Mexican gas station owners.

Official’s with Energy Regulation Commission confirmed that Valero has applied for a permit to sell gasoline in Mexico, but said no further details were available.

The announcement comes after San Antonio-based refiner Tesoro Corp. was given the first ever contract to lease storage and pipeline capacity in northwestern Mexico from Mexico’s state-run oil and gas company Pemex. Tesoro will supply gasoline and diesel into the region, which Tesoro’s President and CEO Greg Goff estimated had a daily deficit of 150,000 barrels of refined fuels.

Mexico has faced fuel shortages and rising prices since the government announced in 2013 its intention to open its state-controlled energy sector to competition after nearly 80 years.

Valero’s investment came the same week Exxon Mobil said it will invest $300 million into fuel infrastructure and gas stations in Mexico over 10 years. British Petroleum or BP announced plans to establish 1,500 BP-branded gas stations across Mexico over five years, and other oil and gas companies have made announcements that they are entering Mexico’s fuels market.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Companies no longer fear the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will collapse and top U.S. multinationals in Mexico are committed to investing in the country going forward, the head of a global business lobby said on Wednesday.

Frederic Garcia, President of Mexico’s Executive Council of Global Companies (CEEG), said preparations to renegotiate NAFTA and growing awareness of the accord’s economic benefits had all but put an end to fears that the deal would be scrapped.

“There was a moment where the probability, or the perception that NAFTA would end, was very strong,” Garcia said in an interview in Mexico City. “But today I think there’s an awareness that it will continue. The big worry that the deal could come to an end is an issue that’s behind us.”

The CEEG represents a host of multinationals in Mexico including AT&T Inc , Coca-Cola Co , General Motors Co , Microsoft Corp , Exxon Mobil Corp , Nestle, HSBC, Siemens and IBM Corp , which it says account for around 40 percent of total foreign direct investment.

It and other business associations have been active in extolling the benefits of NAFTA to Americans to counter threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to dump the 23 year-old accord that binds the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Tuesday he expected the U.S. government to notify Congress early next week of plans to rework the accord, yielding talks by late August.

It was not yet clear how NAFTA would be revamped, but if Mexico’s efforts to update its free trade deal with the European Union proved instructive, it could include provisions to boost corporate compliance and adherence to the law, Garcia said.

Trump said last month he was ready to renegotiate NAFTA with Mexico and Canada, though since taking the presidency in January he also has maintained that the United States could withdraw from the agreement if talks did not work in favor of his homeland.

Arguing the accord has destroyed U.S. jobs, Trump has menaced multinationals manufacturing in Mexico with punitive tariffs, and his threats to quit NAFTA. This sent the peso to a record low in January.

Earlier that month Ford abruptly canceled a $1.6 billion plant in central Mexico following verbal attacks by Trump. But as the rhetoric from the White House began to moderate, the peso has recovered somewhat, and fears for NAFTA’s future have eased.

Last week, a Mexican business lobby said it expected investment to drop slightly this year due to uncertainty over Trump, but Garcia said the CEEG would make no forecasts over projected outlays to avoid drawing attention to the matter.

“As far as the U.S. firms in the CEEG go, from the first day of the new U.S. administration they’ve stated their great interest to continue operating in Mexico (and) their great interest to continue investing in Mexico,” he said.

However, they had done so in such a way as to preserve their interests with the U.S. administration, Garcia added.

General Electric (GE.N) on Friday praised Mexico as a big part of its future and said the company is “very supportive” of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that U.S President Donald Trump has threatened to ditch.

GE Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said on a visit that Mexico had great potential and was not properly understood. He touted the conglomerate’s Mexican operations and the trade deal binding Mexico, Canada and the United States.

“GE as a company, we’re very supportive of NAFTA,” Immelt told employees at an event to mark the expansion of operations in the northern city of Monterrey. He said the trade accord could be modernized, as Mexico has argued.

Immelt sits on a Trump-appointed manufacturing council that Mexico has targeted for lobbying as Mexico and Canada push U.S. business leaders to defend NAFTA.

The GE boss said trade meant “win-win” opportunities across North America.

“We will continue to work constructively in the context of wanting to see a close relationship between the U.S. and Mexico,” he said, noting that GE’s exports to the rest of the world from Mexico were worth $3 billion.

“We’re optimistic about Mexico, we’re optimistic about what we can do here,” Immelt added, saying Latin America’s no. 2 economy would be a “big part” of GE’s future.

Earlier this month, Immelt urged the Trump administration to avoid protectionist policies, calling on it to level the playing field for U.S. companies with tax reform, revived export financing and improved trade agreements.

Trump touts a “Buy American” policy and has railed against U.S. companies moving operations to Mexico. He has threatened to ditch NAFTA, a lynchpin of the Mexican economy, if he cannot rework it to secure better terms for the United States.

Unlike some U.S. companies, GE has not backed off plans in Mexico, risking broadsides from Trump on Twitter.

Earlier, the Mexican presidency said in a statement that GE had stated an interest in doubling purchases from Mexican suppliers next year. Immelt did not mention this.

Vladimiro de la Mora, CEO for Mexico, said the figure came from an announcement last year and did not mean GE aimed to double purchases between this year and 2018.

On Thursday, GE said it had won a contract to provide plants producing two new gigawatts of power in Mexico and secured a separate $120 million, multi-year service deal.

De la Mora said GE could not yet reveal details of the 2 GW deal, but it was “likely” the value of the total investment in the power plants would exceed $500 million.

Mexico sent a stark message to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying an upcoming visit by Mexican officials to China showed Latin America’s second largest economy had other places to export to if he tore up the NAFTA trade deal.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) underpins Mexico’s economy, prompting the government to try and diversify away from the United States, which takes 80 percent of its exports.

Trump indicated in an interview with The Economist published on Thursday that he wanted to get the U.S.-Mexico trade deficit down to about zero. He wants to renegotiate NAFTA to get a better deal for U.S. companies and workers, and has threatened to end the agreement if he does not get his way.

“We will use (the China visit) geopolitically as strategic leverage” said Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, answering questions on trade at the Mexico Business Forum. “It sends the signal that we have many alternatives.”

Guajardo noted Mexico sends China a fraction of its total exports, and that the two major manufacturing nations tend to compete rather than complement one another on trade.

He also offered a rebuke to China on its trade policy.

“We all know that China is not a free trader, that’s the reality,” he said. But he added that Mexico has had success persuading China to ease trade barriers on some goods and expects it to continue to open up as its economy matures.

The trip to China would be in September, Guajardo said, but he did not provide details.

A Mexican diplomat in Beijing told Reuters he was referring to the China International Fair for Investment & Trade summit in Xiamen. “High-level contact is very frequent,” said the diplomat, who was not authorized to comment.

Guajardo said he was also working on a “radical broadening” of preferred tariffs with Brazil and Argentina to lower the cost of importing grains from the South American nations while giving Mexico better access to their manufacturing markets.

That would make the “worst-case scenario” of the U.S. withdrawing from NAFTA less painful for Mexico and strengthen its negotiating hand, Guajardo said.

“If NAFTA disappears, I can export cars (to the United States) paying 2.5 percent tariffs. If they want to export yellow corn to me, I can raise tariffs to inaccessible levels,” Guajardo said. “But to make that strategy credible, I have to broaden our agreements with Brazil and Argentina.”

Representatives of Mexico’s government and private sector are in Brazil this week to close new supply deals of corn, soy and rice, members of the delegation said Thursday.

Still, Mexico has found it hard to wean itself off trade with its northern neighbor. It has tried to deepen commercial links with China for years, but the scrapping of a Chinese high-speed train contract in 2014 soured relations.

The diplomat said Mexico was not sending top-level officials to “China’s Belt and Road Initiative” meeting in Beijing this weekend. Bilateral meetings between senior Mexican officials and their Chinese counterparts were planned throughout the year.

Guajardo said that the U.S. trade deficit was not a measure of the strength of its economy or trade relationship. But he said it might be possible to shrink the U.S. deficit with Mexico if more North American products were made with materials from within the region without hurting competitiveness.

Erecting tariffs, however, was “out of the question,” Guajardo said. “The precondition to negotiating NAFTA is that we can’t go back to the past,” he added.