Mexico’s Sheinbaum says she and Trump agreed to extend trade deadline

To discuss pending issues with Washington, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and US President Donald Trump have agreed to extend a looming trade deadline by “a few more weeks.”

Sheinbaum confirmed on Monday that she spoke with her counterpart on Saturday.

As the two nations continued discussions in an effort to reach a new trade agreement, the US agreed in July to stop a 30% increase in tariffs on some Mexican goods for 90 days. This week was the end of that pause.

In her regular morning press conference, Sheinbaum stated that the two nations were aiming to resolve 54 outstanding trade barriers and that we had been in agreement that November 1 wouldn’t arrive without us having spoken.

She said, “We’re almost finished with this problem.”

Sheinbaum’s comments led to a 0.29 percent increase in Mexico’s peso, which increased to 18.38 per US dollar.

Thanks to the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a trade pact due for review next year, Mexico has been largely spared the brunt of tariffs from the Trump administration.

Sheinbaum stated earlier in October that she was confident that Mexico would reach a favorable trade agreement with the US and that she planned to reveal new developments in projects like those involving electric cars, semiconductors, satellites, drones, and an artificial intelligence lab.

Sheinbaum said, “We keep working, and there is no situation in the near future where there might be a special tariff on November 1.”

Trump announced last week that he would end trade negotiations with Canada, citing frustration with how the negotiations had turned out.