Mexico’s economy and security ministers are preparing to visit the United States for talks with Donald Trump’s administration aimed at averting trade tariffs, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday.
Trump announced on February 3 that he was pausing tariffs on Mexico for one month after Sheinbaum pledged to send more troops to the US border to tackle drug smuggling.
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch are expected to visit Washington this week to resolve outstanding issues, Sheinbaum said.
“I hope, as always, that we will reach a good agreement with the US government,” she said.
Sheinbaum vowed retaliation on February 1 after Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods, accusing the Latin American country of not doing enough to stop illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling.
Days later, Trump delayed the imposition of trade levies after Sheinbaum agreed in a telephone call to deploy 10,000 more soldiers to the countries’ shared border.
In return, Mexico wants Washington to crack down on trafficking of firearms in the other direction, saying they end up in the hands of drug cartel members.
In theory, Mexico should be protected against US tariffs by a regional free trade agreement that was renegotiated under Trump.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced the previous NAFTA accord on July 1, 2020, is due to be reviewed by July next year.
Sheinbaum recently presented a plan to replace Chinese imports with domestically produced goods — an apparent bid to ease Washington’s concerns that Chinese companies want to use Mexico as a backdoor into the United States.
