“You cannot have low inflation and sustained growth in the United States if you are at the same time with very strong protectionism with respect to Mexico and China. It is not compatible,” said Ebrard.
In his presentation at the Economic Perspectives Seminarfrom ITAM, Ebrard said that there is confidence in bringing the T-MEC review to a successful conclusion, for this reason and because there are positive trends on the issue of security and migration.
It will be from the 20th of this month that Mexico begins to negotiate with Trump on these issues.
The official highlighted that without the USMCA many American companies would not survive, as is the case of automotive companies, because they face very strong competition from China.
He highlighted some numbers that reflect the success of the treaty: the United States and Canada have more than 15,000 manufacturing plants in Mexico.
In addition, it represents 30% of the world’s GDP and moves 3.1 million dollars per minute.
Regarding security, he insisted that Mexico is moving forward with the seizure of weapons and fentanyl, in fact, he trusted that an agreement will be reached on this issue.
The secretary mentioned that an official report from the United States reveals that the one who supplies weapons to the Mexican drug cartels is the neighboring country itself.
For example, the Sinaloa cartel, which is the one that worries the most, 85% of its weapons come from the United States.
He pointed out that the main issue that Mexico is raising with the United States is to help it control weapons. From 2018 to 2024, only 3,603 weapons were confiscated at the United States border crossing Mexico in six years.
While in Mexico, from October 1 to January 1, 25, what this administration has, there are 3,602 weapons in the same area entering Mexico.
“So, what Mexico is going to propose is a symmetry in the effort to help reduce this trend. I think it is likely that we will achieve a cross on that.”
The other data that makes Mexico feel comfortable once they have to negotiate with Trump is a 75% drop in migration flows since December 2023 and a 20% decrease in deaths from fentanyl in the United States.
These will be the letters that Mexico will take to Trump.
