Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico is seeking to reduce US tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars as part of negotiations over the future of its free-trade pact with the US and Canada, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday.
Parties to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) have until July 1 to indicate whether they want to renew the agreement or renegotiate it.
While Mexico and Canada have both called for a renewal, President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the future of the deal, calling it "irrelevant."
Mexico is seeking relief from Trump's 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper imports, Sheinbaum said.
"That's what we're working on, so that at least these tariffs are meaningfully reduced, and the trade agreement can continue," Sheinbaum said in her morning press conference.
"The treaty is in the best interest of all three countries," she added.
After talks in Mexico City in late May, a Mexican delegation will travel to Washington this week for a second round of negotiations.
A third round is set to be held in Mexico City on July 20.
In separate comments later in the day, Mexico's Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard dismissed the possibility that Trump will withdraw from the USMCA.
If a political decision had been made "not to extend the treaty or keep it in force, we would know by now; they would have communicated it to us, and we wouldn't be in formal talks," he told reporters.