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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The possible imposition of 25% tariffs on Mexican products by the United States, which was paused for a month, is generating uncertainty in the automotive industry, and the Japanese vehicle manufacturer, Nissan , is already evaluating the impact if this measure were to be taken, which would entail moving its production from Mexico to another location.

This was announced at a press conference on Thursday by Makoto Uchida , president and CEO of Nissan, who said that they must be prepared for the possible entry into force of this tariff measure.

“If high tariffs are imposed, we will have to be ready and perhaps we can move the production of these models to another place. If that were the decision, we would think about how to make it a reality while monitoring the situation,” he said.

The executive stressed that the Japanese firm exports a large volume of vehicles to its northern neighbor, so he warned that “if there are high tariffs, it will have serious implications for our business.”

From its plants in Mexico, Nissan exports approximately 320,000 cars per year to the U.S. market.

Nissan’s revenues fall

During the presentation of its financial results, the Japanese firm reported a 98.4% drop in its net profit between April and December. Given this scenario, it anticipated that in 2025 it will record losses for the first time in four years.

To meet these challenges, the company announced a restructuring plan that includes cutting its global production by 20% , particularly in the small market. The plan also includes the elimination of 9,000 jobs in three plants and labor adjustments in  Thailand.

It also plans to reduce shifts at its factories in  Smyrna  and  Canton , in  the United States , which will affect 6,500 workers between this year and 2026.

Performance in Mexico

In Mexico, Nissan is one of the automakers that has had an optimal performance. In January of this year alone, it reported an 8% increase in its production, reaching 61,085 units compared to the 56,567 units manufactured in the same month of 2024, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) .

In terms of exports, in the first month of 2025, Nissan shipped 33,807 units abroad and sold 20,279 vehicles in the domestic market , which represented an increase of 1.5% compared to January of last year, when it sold 19,970 cars .

According to the  Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA) , Nissan has three plants where it manufactures around  750,108 vehicles  per year. It also has a facility where it manufactures engines, where it produces 747,000 units annually.

It is worth remembering that Nissan and Honda announced on December 23 a memorandum of understanding for a possible merger so that both firms could collaborate more closely to pool their resources and strengthen their position in the global automotive industry, and confront electric car manufacturers .

Finally, Nissan announced in a statement that the two companies “agreed to terminate the memorandum of understanding signed on December 23 of last year to consider a business integration between the two companies.”

“As a result of these discussions, both companies concluded that, in order to prioritize speed in decision-making and execution of management actions in an increasingly volatile market environment in the face of the era of electrification, it would be most appropriate to cease the discussions and terminate the MOU,” the document said.

On February 4, Donald Trump , President of the United States, was going to implement 25% tariffs on various Mexican products, however, they were paused for a month after he and the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, reached an agreement.

On February 10, Trump announced that he had signed two executive orders to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports , a rate that will apply to all countries and will affect his trading partners in the region, such as Mexico and Canada.

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