Mexico and the US have been negotiating a new trade agreement for several months to avoid an increase in general tariffs of 30 percent, and it is expected to be completed in a few weeks, according to Sheinbaum.
Mexico City, October 27 (However).– The President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo revealed this Monday that he had a conversation the weekend with him President of the United States (EU) Donald Trump in which They agreed to extend “a few weeks” he initial term 90 days to negotiate the application or not of more duty a Mexico.
“This is important: I spoke with President Trump on Saturday. We are going to give a few more weeks to the issue, which is very advanced, of the 54 non-tariff barriers that are pending. We agreed to speak again in a few weeks, because we are practically closing this issue,” said President Sheinbaum this morning from the National Palace.
“Finally, on November 1, the three-month deadline that we set for ourselves closes. I spoke on Saturday, in a brief conversation we agreed that in a few more weeks we would talk again, we only talked, essentially, about the commercial issue,” he reiterated.
In addition, Sheinbaum announced that he hopes that the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, will meet with his counterpart in Washington, to continue with the bilateral negotiations: “We practically no longer touch on other issues [con Trump]we have understanding. “We will talk again about the commercial issue in the coming weeks.”
Last July 31, Sheinbaum and Trump agreed to have another 90-day period – expiring on November 1 – to continue trade negotiations during a call that they described as “good” and “fruitful.” At that time, Mexico managed to stop the 30 percent tariffs that the United States had announced against Mexico.
Mexico, however, still pays a 25 percent tariff on cars and a 50 percent tariff on steel, aluminum and copper. In turn, President Trump noted at the time that “Mexico agreed to immediately eliminate its numerous non-tariff trade barriers.” “We will speak with Mexico during the next 90 days with the aim of signing a trade agreement within that period, or even longer,” he said.
These non-tariff trade barriers are those that are still being negotiated, according to Sheinbaum, but it is an issue that is about to be closed in the coming weeks.
Trump’s attitude towards Mexico contrasts with that of his other major trading partner and neighbor, Canada, whom he punished this weekend with an additional 10 percent tariff to the one that currently exists on imports from that country. This, following the re-airing yesterday of an advertisement against the US tariff policy prepared by the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, which provoked the wrath of Trump.
“We do not agree with interventionism”
The Mexican president also referred this morning from the National Palace to the topic of Trump’s aggressions in Latin America: the attacks against ships in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the sanctions against Colombian President Gustavo Petro and the praise that Sheinbaum herself has received.
“We have stated it and we will continue to do so, our Constitution and our conviction, in the case of Mexico, is always the defense of sovereignty. The dialogue with the United States has allowed us to establish a coordination agreement that is central to sovereignty and mutual respect,” said Sheinbaum.
The president boasted that this weekend the US boasted a seizure of weapons in its own territory: “There are 500 weapons that were seized in the US, which is part of what we proposed at the tables, that we not only talk about the drugs that pass from Mexico to the US but that arms trafficking from the US to Mexico stops.”
But on the other hand, Sheinbaum remained firm regarding the “self-determination of peoples.” “We will never agree with intervention or interference in countries,” he said, “and any conflict must be resolved through dialogue and peace,” he concluded.
Already last week, in light of the recent attacks on alleged “drug boats” that the US Government has carried out in the Pacific Ocean, the President said she was against these actions, a position that has been made known directly to said country.
“Obviously we do not agree,” declared the federal president when asked about the issue in her morning conference today, and pointed out that the United States must adhere to the international treaties that exist regarding security in international waters.
“There are international laws on how to operate against alleged illegal transportation of drugs or weapons in international waters, and we have expressed this to the United States Government and publicly,” he indicated.
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