Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday said a brief weekend call with US president Donald Trump led both sides to extend talks on 54 pending non-tariff trade barriers, pausing new tariffs that were set to take effect on 1 November.
Sheinbaum said her conversation with Trump focused exclusively on trade issues, and points of contention such as migration and security were not discussed. She confirmed that both governments will continue negotiations in the coming weeks.
"We agreed to give ourselves a few more weeks to finish resolving the 54 non-tariff barriers that remain pending," Sheinbaum said. "The deadline we had originally set for 1 November is approaching, but [solving] the issue is already well advanced."
Sheinbaum said the call — of which the leaders have had a slew since both entered into office — helped diminish any immediate risks of Mexico being exposed to tariffs from the US starting November.
The president added that she will speak again with Trump once both countries have reviewed how Mexico is solving the non-trade barriers.
The call follows a 4 September meeting between Sheinbaum and US secretary of state Marco Rubio, during which both sides agreed to review trade barriers identified by the Trump administration. Sheinbaum said at the time that not all the barriers were related to alleged violations of the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement.
Sheinbaum added that both governments will continue to work toward a resolution before formal negotiations begin on the USMCA's scheduled review in 2026.
The effective average US tariff rate for all imports from Mexico was 4.7pc as of August, and only 19pc of those imports are subject to any tariff at all, according to the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Mexico has partly avoided the impact of US tariffs under the Trump administration through exemptions for goods and materials that comply with the USMCA agreement.
