Summary
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Trump agreed to extend deadline.
- Extension allows more time to finalize trade, security, and migration deals.
- Leaders had a "brief" and "cordial" phone call last Saturday.
The apparent decision contrasts with Mr. Trump's assertion that he is finished discussing a comparable arrangement with Canada after Ontario broadcast an advertisement on American television that featured anti-tariff remarks made by the late former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Ms. Sheinbaum reported that she and Mr. Trump had a "very brief" and "cordial" phone conversation last Thursday during her daily news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City on Monday. She claimed that during the discussion, they decided to allow their officials to continue working until the deadline of November 1st without Mr. Trump enacting further tariffs.
“We agreed that it was going very well,”
she said.
“We also agreed that we will speak in the coming weeks to try to close the deal.”
The goal, according to Ms. Sheinbaum, is to come to an agreement before the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, is reviewed and potentially renegotiated later this year or in early 2026.
At first, Mr. Trump gave Canada and Mexico deadlines in July to negotiate new security and economic agreements with the US. Mr. Trump increased his tariffs from 25 to 35 percent on the majority of Canadian goods traded outside of the USMCA after those deadlines were missed. But he set a new deadline of November 1 and maintained the corresponding duties on Mexico at 25%.
Mr. Trump abruptly "terminated" talks with Canada over the Ontario ad last Thursday as well. In the one-minute commercial, Mr. Reagan, a symbol of Mr. Trump's Republican base, warns that tariffs will have terrible economic effects.
At the request of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Premier Doug Ford of Ontario consented to remove the spot. The fact that the commercial would only be taken down on Monday, after it had already been shown during the first two World Series games, infuriated Mr. Trump even more.
Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney are currently on Asian tours and will be in South Korea this week for an APEC conference. However, according to Mr. Trump, he will not be seeing Mr. Carney there or again for "a long time."
How would new tariffs affect Mexican exporters and prices?
Mexican exporters, especially those not completely biddable with USMCA rules, would face increased costs due to tariffs potentially as high as 25- 30. This could reduce their competitiveness in the U.S. request, leading to a decline in exports, particularly in sectors like motorcars, energy, husbandry, and electronics.
The added costs from tariffs would probably be passed on incompletely to U.S. importers and consumers, driving up prices of goods imported from Mexico. This includes food products similar to fruits, and vegetables, as well as artificial goods.
The tariffs could cause a compression in Mexico’s GDP by reducing import volumes and dismembering business operations, potentially leading to job losses in import-dependent diligence.