This relationship will be one of the key issues during the review that the three countries plan to carry out in 2026 of the T-MEC trade agreement, although in the United States and Canada warning voices have been heard for months about the impact of Chinese imports and investments. in Mexico.
“This idea that Chinese products are entering through Mexico to take them to the United States is not correct,” said the president, when asked at a press conference about the doubts expressed by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, about the future of the trilateral agreement.
Trudeau stated on Thursday that Canada would like the USMCA to continue, but could consider other options depending on the decisions Mexico makes, and revealed that he had expressed his concerns to Sheinbaum about the Asian nation’s investment in Mexican territory.
“We will guarantee Canadian jobs and long-term Canadian growth. Ideally, we do this as a united North American market, but pending the decisions and choices that Mexico has made, we may have to consider other options,” the prime minister added. .
Sheinbaum, who within the framework of the last G20 Summit in Brazil met with Trudeau and US President Joe Biden, but also with the President of China, Xi Jinping, reported that his government has a plan to replace Chinese imports with goods Mexicans.
The goods that would replace purchases from China would be both those manufactured by Mexican companies and those produced in the Latin American nation by companies of North American or European origin, he explained.
The Secretary of the Treasury, Rogelio Ramírez, said in the same press conference that Mexico’s trade deficit with China was currently $80 billion and was continuing to grow, so the Government was analyzing formulas to counteract the situation.
The United States, whose imports from Mexico in February were higher than those recorded from China for the first time in 20 years, could toughen its policy towards the two nations when Trump comes to power in January, if the Republican keeps his promises to increase tariffs on their products.
In addition, the outgoing Biden administration has been trying for months to ensure that Chinese automakers cannot set up factories in Mexico to avoid already high US tariffs on vehicles from the Asian country.
The Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, which hopes to soon open its first factory in Mexican territory, has stated that the destination of its production is the local market.
