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CORRECTED - Mexico's Carstens worried about global protectionism
(Corrects spelling of minister's first name in first paragraph)
MIAMI, April 6 (Reuters) - Mexico's Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said on Sunday he is worried about the rise of "a protectionism movement around the world," and called on the G-7 to to solve global imbalances that are at the root of the problem.
Speaking in Miami, Carstens said the Group of Seven industrialized countries need to have a "more serious approach" to address global imbalances. In the context of imbalances, he mentioned Chinese foreign exchange rates, and Europe and Japan.
"If we go into protectionism everybody loses," Carstens told a seminar organized by the Institute of International Finance, an international banking group formed by 375 of the world's largest major banks and investment institutions.
The Mexican minister said he hopes the next U.S. president will recognize the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"At the end of the day I hope that whoever the new president of whatever party it is, that (they) will sit down and analyze carefully the situation and come to the conclusion that NAFTA has been very good for all of the region," he said.
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the two Democratic presidential contenders, have vowed to change or even abandon NAFTA, causing uneasiness in the neighboring countries.
"Certainly right now we're in the heat of an election, we know many things get said in election periods," said Carstens. (Reporting by Walter Brandimarte, Editing by Michael Christie and Jackie Frank)
