Mexico says trade talks must take note of very sensitive products

LAHAINA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Pacific Rim trading partners have to make an effort to seal an ambitious free trade deal but must also recognise that very sensitive markets cannot be thrown open to full competition immediately, Mexican Trade Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Thursday. Trade ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the Hawaiian island of Maui still had several big issues outstanding on Thursday. "They are few but very contested," he told Reuters. Mexico is under pressure to open agricultural markets to products from Australia and New Zealand, and is also watching demands from Australia for increased access to the U.S. sugar market, which Mexico enjoys preferential access to. "Everyone knows the sensitivities in the markets, of course we all have make an effort, but the effort has to be in line with the principle ... that the very, very, very sensitive products are subject to a less aggressive schedule of market opening," he said when asked about sugar. (Reporting by Krista Hughes; Editing by Sandra Maler)