Marcelo Ebrard , head of the Ministry of Economy , announced that the 25% tariff pause by the President of the United States, Donald Trump , on products under the framework of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) covers almost 90% of the goods that are exported to the United States, so negotiations with the northern neighbor will continue.
“The agreement that was announced yesterday, after the call that our president had with President Trump, essentially consists of the fact that Mexican exports that comply with the provisions of the Free Trade Agreement will not be subject to tariffs, at least until April 2,” he said.
At the morning press conference on Friday, the federal official explained that, although Trump’s measure halts the collection of tariffs from Mexico until April 2, work will continue with the U.S. government and with companies that do not comply with the rule.
“We are going to work today, and even tomorrow morning, with companies that do not have the possibility of complying with these standards, which would be in that 10-12% and with whom we have to work, mainly in the automotive industry and other related industries,” he stressed.
He said that for the next three weeks they will work with the team at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) .
“For the next three weeks, from April onwards, we are already working with the USTR team. Next week we will have meetings to clarify what is proposed and where we are going,” he explained.
At the conference, Ebrard explained that Trump requested in an executive order that a country-by-country diagnosis of the United States’ foreign trade be made, that is, to see “if there is a deficit, if there is a surplus, to assess it, if there is a subsidy, if there is no subsidy, etc. All the questions about trade with different countries in the world and that will be presented, as well as the measures that are recommended on the aforementioned date, April 2,” he added.
What’s next, tariffs on steel and aluminum
Ebrard touched on the issue of the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the United States, which will affect Mexico and is scheduled to come into effect on March 12.
“We have to reach an agreement on steel and aluminum. In short, I would say that Mexico imports more than the United States imports from Mexico. So we are in this discussion because there is no justification for having a tariff on aluminum and steel,” he stressed.
He pointed out that the steel and aluminum issue is on March 12, “we are negotiating that, and on April 2 we will present the future of these tariffs and how the United States trade will work. And we will be negotiating and presenting Mexico’s arguments in these days,” said the Secretary of Economy.
It should be remembered that on March 6, Donald Trump announced that he reached an agreement with the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum , to exempt products included in the T-MEC from the 25% tariffs until April 2.
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