Preident Claudia Sheinbaum at an event at Zocalo Plaza in Mexico City on March 9. (Stephania Corpi/Bloomberg News)
Mexico is delaying its response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as President Claudia Sheinbaum avoids retaliation while both countries negotiate to avert levies on a wide range of products and services.
Sheinbaum, whose cool-headed approach has become a model to many world leaders dealing with Donald Trump, said on March 12 she’d rather wait until the U.S. president decides whether to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican imports in general. Such levies, part of a U.S. strategy to force its neighbors to combat illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking, are on hold until April 2 for products covered by North America’s free trade agreement.
Sheinbaum’s response stands in stark contrast with that of Canada, which earlier unveiled 25% counter-tariffs on about $21 billion of U.S.-made items after the Trump administration went ahead on March 12 with global levies on imports of steel and aluminum.
“Given that we have a trade agreement and there are no tariffs from Mexico to the United States, well, there shouldn’t be any reciprocal tariffs,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press conference. “So we’ll wait until April and then make our decision on whether or not to impose reciprocal tariffs.”
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Mexico’s Economy Ministry Marcelo Ebrard and other officials were in Washington this week to discuss steel and aluminum tariffs. Ebrard is expected to speak at Sheinbaum’s press conference March 13.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Brazil has also said it will take a reciprocal approach to new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum only after attempting to negotiate an alternative with the Trump administration.
