Ebrard hopes for US response on steel, aluminum and auto tariffs before year-end

Mexico hopes to receive a favorable response from the U.S. to its request for lower tariffs on steel, aluminum and vehicles before the end of the year, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Monday.

The Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum last year, and 25% tariffs on Mexican vehicles, with an exemption for the U.S. content in those vehicles. The tariffs were imposed on national security grounds under Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act.

Speaking at a press conference in Mexico City, Ebrard acknowledged that he and his colleagues have been advocating a reduction of those tariffs in trade talks with U.S. officials.

“We’ve already set out all the technical grounds about why what we’re proposing is reasonable and fair,” he said.

Ebrard reiterated that the United States has a surplus with Mexico on the trade of steel and therefore the Mexican government believes that the tariff on the alloy is “unjustified and unfair.”

“Now, that is not enough,” he added.

“… We’ve also presented all kinds of evidence about why reducing that tariff is important. “Now it’s in the hands of the U.S. authorities,” said Ebrard, who asserted that Mexico’s steel exports today don’t include any transshipped steel — i.e., steel imported to Mexico and subsequently shipped abroad.

Regarding the U.S. auto tariffs, Ebrard said that the United States’ “discount system” — which reduces duties on Mexican vehicles to an average of 15% — has been “very good.”

“But,” he added, “we want the tariffs to be adjusted so that we have more favorable conditions for Mexico.”

“… In summary, we’ve been presenting all this [to U.S. officials] and we hope to get a good response before the end of the year,” Ebrard said.

“… We’ve already provided them with all the technical elements. We’ll have to wait and see what decision they make in the coming weeks. It’s hard to say what day they’ll make it,” he said.

Mexico-US trade deal ‘very close,’ confirms Sheinbaum: Tuesday’s mañanera recapped

President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated on Tuesday that Mexico’s goal in trade talks with the United States is to “reduce the tariffs we face today as much as possible.”

In those talks, Mexico and the United States have been seeking to resolve a range of trade-related issues following the U.S. government’s decision in July not to renew the USMCA free trade pact for an additional 16 years. The U.S. is particularly eager to reduce its large trade deficit with Mexico, and President Donald Trump has reportedly pressured Mexico to sign energy deals with U.S. companies.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Mexico’s trade talks with the United States had stalled as a direct result of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s opposition to the tariff cuts the Mexican government is seeking. However, Ebrard said last Friday that he hadn’t detected any opposition to tariff reductions in his most recent conversation with Lutnick.

For his part, Trump asserted at a rally in Kansas on Monday that the U.S. and Mexico were “very close to a great deal” that would substantially reduce the United States’ large trade deficit with its southern neighbor, possibly “down to zero.”

On Tuesday morning, Sheinbaum agreed that a bilateral deal was “very close,” but didn’t comment specifically on Trump’s deficit reduction ambition.

Even though the Trump administration decided against renewing the USMCA until 2042, the trilateral trade pact remains in effect, allowing more than 80% of Mexican goods to enter the U.S. tariff-free. Ebrard stressed on Monday that Mexican goods face lower average tariffs than those of other countries when entering the United States, and also noted that Mexico is the United States top trade partner.

“No one exports more [than Mexico while] paying less. No one,” he said.

“We pay an average effective tariff of 3%. …. There is no main exporting country that has a better condition,” Ebrard said.

“What do we want? To keep that position,” he said.

Mexico News Daily 

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