(Bloomberg) — Mexico plans to continue negotiations with the US on steel and auto tariffs even as President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government celebrates its preferential treatment compared to other nations slammed by US President Donald Trump’s new duties.
Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will travel to Washington next week to continue talks with the US government. He will seek to improve Mexico’s position relative to other countries whose exports to the US have been hit by tariffs of 10% or more.
“Our goal is that in the next 40 days we manage to have the best conditions compared to other countries in the world in the auto industry, and the same goes for steel and aluminum,” Ebrard said at the president’s daily press briefing Thursday. “We want the competitiveness of Mexico to be very high.”
Sheinbaum said she is in touch with Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Volkswagen AG and BMW AG top executives. Mexico’s president said she is looking for automakers to keep their existing plants in Mexico and to expand them, and she added that the auto industry is responsible for 30% of Mexico’s exports.
The US applied a 25% tariff starting Thursday to autos imported to the US, though parts covered by the USMCA free trade agreement continue to trade duty-free for now. Mexico and Canada since March have a separate 25% tariff on the minority of goods not covered by USMCA. The US also recently set a 25% levy on all inbound shipments of steel and aluminum products that went into effect March 12.
Mexico’s peso strengthened in early trading Thursday, gaining 1.4% to 19.8946 to the dollar at 8:46 a.m. in Mexico Ctiy.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced a 10% tariff on most countries that export to the US, plus additional fees on about 60 nations. Mexico and Canada were not subject to additional levies, which Sheinbaum described as the result of successful talks with the Trump administration.
“We have a preferential treatment now,” Sheinbaum said. “It has to do with the relationship of respect that we have constructed with President Trump.”
The fallout from Trump’s tariff announcement led to Stellantis NV to halt work on factories in Canada and Mexico.
–With assistance from Alex Vasquez.
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