In light of the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) , the National Agency of Automotive Sector Suppliers (Anapsa) raised the need for Mexico to promote the signing of “parallel letters” that would protect heavy and light vehicles and auto parts from possible tariff measures by the United States.
Alberto Bustamante, president of Anapsa, explained that the automotive industry is once again at the center of North American trade discussions due to its importance in the trade between Mexico and the United States.
The executive noted that the sector represents approximately 5% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 24% of the manufacturing GDP, so any modification to trade rules would have significant repercussions for the Mexican economy.
“Difficult times are coming, the issue is that a good negotiation has to be done,” he stated during a discussion organized by Mundi .
Although Anapsa has already presented the proposal to the Ministry of Economy (SE) , Bustamante indicated that so far they have not received a response regarding the possibility of incorporating parallel letters or a similar scheme that would help protect the industry from potential tariff measures by the United States.
He also warned that one of the proposals currently under discussion includes raising the “regional content value of vehicles ,” as well as incorporating a requirement that 50% of said content must come from the United States.
Bustamante explained that the regional content value corresponds to the percentage of components, materials and manufacturing processes that a vehicle incorporates from North America to access the tariff benefits of the USMCA.
Currently the requirement is 75%, but the proposal would raise that percentage to 85% and add a specific minimum share of content produced in the United States.
“There is an increase in the value of regional content, which now includes US content that is not currently available,” he commented.
The representative of Anapsa indicated that the organization stated that it is a priority to avoid establishing mandatory percentages of national content for any of the three member countries of the trade agreement, considering that this could alter the productive integration that currently exists in the region.
He argued that the review of the USMCA is taking place in a different context than originally planned and that, in practice, it has evolved into a renegotiation driven by the trade policies of the administration of Donald Trump, President of the United States.
According to the business leader, the outcome of the negotiations will be decisive for an industry that currently produces around 4.2 million light vehicles per year in Mexico and whose auto parts chain exceeds 120 billion dollars in annual production.
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