Ninety per cent of Mexico's exports goes to the US and Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement. But the deal also touches on many other areas of bilateral relations. One of the key obstacles to the agreement was European concern over Mexico's human right record. The agreement sets out ways the two partners can deal with questions of human rights abuse and the principles aren't simply contained in the pre-amble. There are specific legally binding mechanisms contained in the text that effectively allows the EU to intervene directly in Mexico's affairs.
Any agreement is also likely to become something of a benchmark deal.
The summit's host, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, described it as an example of the way forward in EU's dealings with other nations. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Americas stories are at the foot of the page.