(Bloomberg) -- Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday he plans to visit China after a summit of the Group of 20 developed nations in Japan later this month.
"The meeting in China is very important, something that we’ve been planning for months" Ebrard said at a banking conference, adding that the visit will take place in the first days of July.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said last week that he doesn’t plan to travel to the G-20 meeting in Osaka scheduled for June 28-29, and that Ebrard and Finance Minister Carlos Urzua will represent him instead. It will be the first time a Mexican president skips the summit of the most powerful leaders in the world, which has been taking place since 2008.
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Mexico has been looking to boost its relationship with China and diversify its trade away from the U.S., the buyer of 80 percent of the nation’s exports. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican exports if the nation didn’t do more to stop illegal migration from Central America, sending the nation’s currency tumbling. The duties were averted via a deal on Friday night after several days of negotiations in Washington.