President Claudia Sheinbaum started her Thursday morning press conference at the decidedly late time of 11:20 a.m. — almost four hours later than usual.
The reason? Earlier on Thursday, she spoke by telephone to Donald Trump, after which the United States president announced he was suspending tariffs on imports from Mexico until at least April 2.
Sheinbaum greeted reporters with a jovial “Buenos días” before walking to her lectern with a broad smile on her face.
“We’re going to read the post of President Trump,” she said, referring to his announcement on social media that “Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement.”
‘We are getting results, President Trump’
Sheinbaum noted that she presented to Trump U.S. Customs and Border Protection data that showed that the quantity of fentanyl seized at the Mexico-U.S. border declined 41.5% to 263 kilograms in February compared to 450 kilograms the previous month. She said that Trump wasn’t aware of the statistic, and attributed it to the increase in fentanyl seizures in Mexico.
Sheinbaum said she also highlighted that her government has deployed 10,000 additional National Guard Troops to Mexico’s northern border as part of a deal in early February that staved off tariffs until March 4.
“I also told him about the meeting in Washington with his security team and our security team, … where a series of cooperation and collaboration agreements were reached,” she said.
“Then I told him, ‘We are getting results, President Trump,'” Sheinbaum said.
“… ‘Now that you’ve implemented tariffs, how are we going to continue cooperating, collaborating, with something that harms the people of Mexico?'” she said, referring to tariffs, as she continued to recount her call with the U.S. president.
“It wasn’t a threat, not at all, simply: ‘Understand that, for me, the most important thing is my people,'” Sheinbaum said.
“… At the beginning, he stated ‘the tariffs are staying, and we’ll review it later’ … but I kept informing him about the many things we’ve done in Mexico in relation to security, even the decision the [federal government’s] Security Council took to send 29 prisoners to the United States,” she said, adding that she told Trump about other security results her government has achieved, including the arrests of thousands of suspected criminals.
“And finally, he made the proposal to postpone everything until April 2, [with] a different review, the review of reciprocal tariffs,” Sheinbaum said.
A ‘reciprocal relationship’ would be one in which ‘they don’t charge us tariffs either’
Sheinbaum highlighted that the vast majority of goods Mexico exports to the United States and imports from the U.S. are not subject to tariffs thanks to the USMCA trade pact, which superseded NAFTA in 2020. That statement was true until 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, when 25% U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods took effect.
The USMCA stipulates rules, including “rules of origin,” that products must comply with in order to travel across borders in North America without being subject to tariffs.
The trade agreement has allowed for free trade between Mexico, the United States and Canada for almost five years, but it didn’t stop Trump putting tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods two days ago.
Sheinbaum emphasized that because Mexico doesn’t impose tariffs on imports from the United States, a “reciprocal relationship” would be one in which “they don’t charge us tariffs either.”
In that context, she expressed optimism that tariffs won’t be imposed on Mexican goods when the United States places reciprocal tariffs on imports from other countries next month.
“In any case, we continue to work together,” Sheinbaum said.
“In other words, the Mexico-United States-Canada trade agreement is respected.”
AMLO’s good relationship with Trump a factor in tariff suspension, Sheinbaum says
A reporter asked the president whether she believed that Trump, in deciding to suspend tariffs on Mexican goods, took into account the views of automakers that have plants in both Mexico and the United States.
“It’s very probable that everything had an influence,” Sheinbaum said.
“Remember the day that … [Trump] announced the tariffs, stock markets in the United States fell and there were a lot of United States businesspeople who said, “This isn’t good for us,'” she said.
“They did their own work to speak with President Trump. Obviously, everything has an influence, and I believe the relationship of respect we’ve had [with the United States] also has an influence,” Sheinbaum said.
She said she believed that the “good relationship” Trump had with former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador was also a factor in the U.S. president’s decision to suspend tariffs on imports from Mexico.
Sheinbaum noted that López Obrador was “one of the few people in the world who said ‘this is bad'” when Twitter suspended Trump’s account after the United States Capitol Attack on January 6, 2021.
“President Trump obviously remembers that, right? All that has an influence on the good relationship because he obviously knows that [AMLO and I] are part of the same movement and that we have always referred to him with respect,” she said.
‘We favor trade with countries with which we have agreements’
Asked about the future of the USMCA and Mexico’s trade relationship with China, Sheinbaum noted that a review of the trilateral North American free trade pact is scheduled to take place in 2026.
As a result of “all these talks” between Mexico’s economy and finance ministers and the United States commerce and treasury secretaries, “it’s very probable” that “a lot of these things from this review will start to be seen now,” the president said, apparently indicating that changes to USMCA will be made before next year’s review.
“What have we always said? We also have to carry out reviews of the trade agreements we have, due to our sovereignty and our self-sufficiency, and due to the strengthening of our economy,” Sheinbaum said.
“But in the end, we favor trade with countries with which we have [trade] agreements. Remember, we don’t have a trade agreement with China, and we’re importing a lot of products from China,” she said.
Sheinbaum noted that the influx of Chinese goods to Mexico has had an adverse impact on manufacturing in the country. In that context, the government announced tariffs last December that targeted cheap Chinese clothing and textiles.
Late last month, Sheinbaum said that imposing additional tariffs on imports from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have free trade agreements, such as China, was an option.
She said at the time that the implementation of tariffs on Chinese exports to Mexico wasn’t a “condition” that had been set by the United States, although Bloomberg had reported that “the Trump administration told Mexican officials” including Minister Ebrard “that they should put their own duties on Chinese imports as part of their efforts to avoid tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump.”
Late last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Mexico had proposed matching U.S. tariffs on China.
Sheinbaum said on Thursday that Mexico “has to review the tariffs” it currently has in place on imports from China, and stressed that her government wants to “recover” and “strengthen” Mexican industry.
“Why? Because that provides employment, strengthens us, generates well-being, reduces violence,” she said.
As part of the ambitious Plan México economic initiative, the government is aiming to reduce reliance on imports from China and other Asian countries in order to protect Mexican manufacturing.
To achieve that goal, it appears almost certain that the Mexican government will move to implement tariffs — or higher tariffs — on Chinese goods.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
