Mexico says no deal yet with Trump on auto, steel tariffs

(FILES) US President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025. Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump has turned US foreign policy upside down, sent shock waves through the financial markets and turned the Oval Office into one "happening" after another. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Mexico has not yet reached an agreement with US President Donald Trump to avoid tariffs on its automobile and steel exports but talks continue, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday.

Mexico’s economy, the second-largest in Latin America, is considered one of the most vulnerable to Trump’s global trade war because the United States buys around 80 percent of its exports.

“No agreement has been reached yet, but there is communication,” Sheinbaum, who spoke with Trump by telephone last Wednesday, said at her morning news conference.

Sheinbaum last week described her conversation with Trump as “very productive” and said that the two leaders would continue talking to reach agreements.

Trump this month left Mexico off the list of nations facing his “reciprocal tariffs,” but its carmakers as well as steel and aluminum exporters still face duties.

Sheinbaum said that Mexico had proposed zero tariffs on steel and aluminum exports that meet the requirements of its free trade agreement with the United States and Canada.

She said her government had made the case that “the United States exports more steel and aluminum to Mexico than Mexico exports to the United States.”

Sheinbaum declined to give details about her proposal for the key automotive sector, which has been hit by Trump’s decision to slap 25 percent levies on foreign-made imported vehicles.

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