Mexico set to discuss US tariffs with Canada as ministers visit

MEXICO CITY (Reuters): Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said he is set to speak with Canada’s finance minister, who is visiting Mexico City, later on Tuesday about the two countries’ experiences in dealing with tariffs imposed on goods shipped to the United States.

“They want to know how Mexico is getting these results,” Ebrard told journalists.

Mexico was able to avoid 30% tariffs on its shipments to the U.S. set to come into force last week, securing a 90-day pause to work on a trade deal with the government of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump slapped a 35% duty on many goods coming from Canada, hiking the rate from a 25% fentanyl-related tariff imposed earlier this year.

“We’re going to exchange experiences,” Ebrard said. “They’re paying a 35% tariff, and Mexico isn’t.”

Mexico is still subject to the previously imposed 25% fentanyl tariffs, though goods sent under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement – which are most of them – are exempt.

Trump has said the U.S. would continue to levy a 50% tariff on Mexican steel, aluminum and copper and a 25% tariff on Mexican autos and on the non-USMCA-compliant goods.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met with the Canadian finance minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, as well as Foreign Minister Anita Anand, earlier in the day at Mexico’s national palace.

“We’re strengthening the relationship between our countries,” she said in a post on X.