Mexico races to stall or evade Trump's 25% auto tariffs

MEXICO CITY — Facing imaginable economical fallout from planned U.S. tariffs, Mexican authorities are pushing the White House to exclude Mexican vehicles and car parts from President Trump’s planned 25% levies connected automobile imports.

“We don’t privation to suffer a azygous occupation successful our country,” a somber President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters astatine her greeting quality briefing Thursday. “There is country for talks, for collaboration, for negotiation.”

Mexico is seeking a continuation of the existent North American free-trade regimen connected car imports, said Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s curate of the economy.

“If we are moving to a strategy of specified precocious tariffs, what we person to look for is preferential attraction for Mexico,” said Ebrard, who appeared via video nexus from Washington, wherever helium has been gathering with elder Trump medication officials. Ebrard said helium had already met six times with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, underscoring the important value of the tariff contented for Mexico.

Mexican authorities person besides been seeking retired U.S. car manufacturers — heavy reliant connected Mexican components and assembly — who person besides balked astatine the import taxes and called Trump’s predictions of rapidly renewed car accumulation successful the United States unrealistic.

“It’s not truthful casual to transportation a works [from Mexico] to the United States,” Sheinbaum noted.

Mexico’s multibillion-dollar conveyance and car parts manufacturing sectors — overwhelmingly geared toward exports to the United States — correspond a important axis of the Mexican economy. The manufacture straight employs much than 1 cardinal people, not including tens of thousands of collateral jobs successful transport, logistics and different fields.

The Mexican president, who has maintained what she calls a “cool-headed” attack successful contentious, back-and-forth tariff discussions with the Trump administration, said Mexico would not formulate a afloat effect — which could see retaliatory tariffs against U.S. imports — until astatine slightest Tuesday. The caller tariffs volition spell into effect astatine 12:01 a.m. Eastern daylight clip connected April 3.

Sheinbaum’s muted absorption contrasted with global condemnations of the caller tariff mandates aft Trump’s signing of an enforcement bid Wednesday imposing a 25% tariff connected imports of automobiles and car parts.

“We volition combat the U.S. tariffs with retaliatory commercialized actions of our ain that volition person maximum interaction successful the United States and minimum impacts present successful Canada,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Thursday. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva charged that “free commercialized is being harmed … [and] multilaterism weakened,” portion Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said helium wants his federation to beryllium exempt from the tariffs.

But nary state is much susceptible connected the tariff beforehand than Mexico, which has mostly pinned its economical strategy connected cross-border concern since the 1994 implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement — the landmark pact known arsenic NAFTA that opened up mostly duty-free commerce betwixt Mexico, the United States and Canada.

In a generation, Mexico’s car assemblage has been transformed from a mostly home task into a planetary force. Mexico is present the No. 1 exporter of automobiles and car parts to the United States.

General Motors and Ford are among the U.S. manufacturers successful Mexico, on with giants specified arsenic Volkswagen, BMW and Nissan.

The expanding car commerce has helped vault Mexico into becoming the United States’ main trading partner, eclipsing some China and Canada. U.S.-Mexico bilateral commercialized approached $840 cardinal successful 2024, according to the U.S. commercialized representative’s office.

Some experts person warned that Trump’s far-reaching tariff proposals could nonstop Mexico’s system — already experiencing dilatory maturation and lagging capitalist assurance — into a recession.

“Whatever stroke we person reverberates successful the full economy,” Francisco González, president of the National Industry of Auto Parts, told Mexico’s El Heraldo Radio.

During his archetypal statesmanlike term, Trump condemned NAFTA arsenic “the worst commercialized woody ever made,” blaming the pact for encouraging U.S. firms to question cheaper labour successful Mexico, frankincense hollowing retired the U.S. manufacturing base. Trump negotiated NAFTA’s successor, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, oregon USMCA, which went into effect July 1, 2020.

A cardinal betterment of USMCA was a request for bolstering North American contented for vehicles receiving preferential tariff treatment. USMCA accrued determination contented mandates from 62.5% to 75% for cars and airy trucks and to 70% for dense trucks.

The contented rules bespeak the analyzable quality of modern automotive manufacturing, heavy reliant connected planetary proviso chains and components shipped crossed borders.

In his car tariff bid connected Wednesday, Trump included circumstantial carve-outs for importers successful Mexico and Canada operating nether USMCA.

The 25% tariff would use lone to non-U.S.-produced contented successful automobiles imported nether the North American escaped commercialized regimen, Trump said. Importers would beryllium fixed the accidental to “certify” U.S. content, Trump said.

In addition, Trump said that car parts imported nether USMCA would stay tariff-free until U.S. authorities found a process to use duties lone to contented not originating successful the United States.

Mexican authorities called the projected tariff hikes difficult, if not impossible, to implement.

Mexican components often represent 40% of U.S.-made vehicles, said Ebrard, who cited the illustration of an car piston that mightiness transverse the borderline 7 times.

“Do you complaint a 25% tariff 7 times?” Ebrard asked. “That’s not going to happen.”

On 2 erstwhile occasions, Trump has paused planned tariffs connected each Mexican and Canadian imports aft speaking via telephone with Sheinbaum. He has besides lavished plaudits connected the Mexican president, calling her “tough” and a “marvelous woman.”

Trump has besides praised Mexico for helping to trim U.S.-bound amerciable migration and cause smuggling — the problems that helium primitively cited successful vowing to enforce duties connected Mexican and Canadian imports. However, successful implementing the car tariffs, Trump has not cited migration oregon cause trafficking. Instead, helium argued Wednesday that helium was acting “to support America’s automobile industry, which is captious to nationalist information and has been undermined by excessive imports threatening America’s home concern basal and proviso chains.”

Special analogous Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.