U.S. Tariffs Do Not Affect Mexico; They Stayed at the 10% That Products Outside the USMCA Already Had: Sheinbaum

ByAlma E. Muñoz

This article by Alma E. Muñoz originally appeared in the July 24, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Cuernavaca, Mor. President Claudia Sheinbaum maintained that the new tariff provisions imposed by the United States do not affect Mexico because it only maintains the 10 percent that was already previously applied to all products that were outside the North American trade agreement. She considered that, in reality, this U.S. decision derives from the protectionist vision that the United States has regarding its economy.

She recounted that at the time, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling determined that the tariffs President Donald Trump ordered in 2025 had no legal basis, so the United States administration sought another tariff scheme for all countries where forced labor exists, in what is called the 301 tariff. However, she emphasized that this is a unilateral decision by the U.S. government not only against Mexico but against the whole world.

Commenting on the meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, as part of the resumption of trade negotiations between the two countries, associated with the USMCA, she considered it was a good meeting in which it was confirmed that progress is being made on different issues. However, she said that concrete agreements cannot yet be discussed because negotiations are ongoing, since the United States proposes strengthening everything concerning the rules of origin.

She detailed that the U.S. government seeks to reduce its trade deficit, particularly with Mexico, because our country currently exports more to the United States than it imports from there. Trump has the idea of reindustrializing the United States and wants many factories that left for Asia and Mexico to return, but, she estimated, that will hardly happen.

She noted that there cannot be a vision in which the United States’ pursuit of prosperity goes to the detriment of Mexico’s economy. In reality, U.S. prosperity helps prosperity in Mexico and vice versa.

She considered it complex to negotiate with the United States under this protectionist vision, especially in the face of the growth of China’s presence in the world, so it would be better for us to be united regionally to compete in better conditions. She recalled that the regional economic integration that has been achieved has allowed many of the components of various electronic and new technology products to be produced in Mexico.

Expanding on the new tariff, she said that Mexico remained in the same conditions as before, but she trusted that with these negotiations the best conditions for our economy can be achieved, even with this U.S. protectionist vision.