Mexico to review tariffs with China, president says

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, under US pressure not to allow her country to be a backdoor for Chinese goods, said Thursday that her government would review its tariffs with Beijing.

Mexico imports “many products from China” that have hit domestic industries, Sheinbaum told a news conference shortly after US President Donald Trump suspended tariffs on most Mexican goods.

She said the decline of Mexico’s textile and shoe industries was partly to blame for a wave of criminal violence shaking the central state of Guanajuato.

In January, Sheinbaum presented a plan to replace Chinese imports with domestically produced goods.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that Mexico had also proposed matching Washington’s tariff hikes on China, something that Sheinbaum did not confirm.

But she said that Mexico would prioritize trade relations with countries with which it has a free trade deal, such as the United States.

“Remember, we do not have a trade agreement with China,” she said.