Mexico working on agreement with US before tariff deadline, says senior Mexican official

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By Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico is working with the United States to reach an agreement on tariffs before an impending deadline, a senior Mexican government official said on Wednesday, and the U.S. recognized its work to control migration and fentanyl trafficking.

Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, following a meeting in Washington with the team of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, told Reuters that officials discussed the upcoming “review of the USMCA trade pact, concerns about steel and aluminum and China, among other issues.”

“We are working together to reach agreements before the fatal dates,” Gutierrez said, referring to threats by President Donald Trump to impose blanket 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods if those countries do not clamp down on the flow of drugs and migrants into the U.S.

Trump said earlier Wednesday that the new tariffs would take effect on April 2, about a month later than a previous deadline of March 4.

Senior Mexican government officials are attending a flurry of meetings with U.S. counterparts in Washington this week as bilateral tensions simmer over tariffs, drug gangs and migration.

Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will have a meeting Thursday with Greer and will meet Friday with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, an economy ministry spokesperson said.

The tariff back-and-forth comes ahead of a planned 2026 revision of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact that Trump negotiated during his previous term. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged on Wednesday that a renegotiation of the accord would likely take place sooner.

Sheinbaum also said her government’s entire security cabinet – including the foreign minister, heads of the Army and Navy, the security chief and attorney general – will attend meetings in the U.S. capital with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.

The leftist leader noted that preparations for the talks have been ongoing for several days, and that her envoys will seek agreements “within the framework of our sovereignty.”

Regarding both tariffs and security, Mexico has said it is seeking coordination and collaboration with its northern neighbor, and has pushed for the U.S. to do more to prevent the southern flow of guns to criminal groups.

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison, Raul Cortes and Sarah Morland; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by David Alire Garcia, Rod Nickel and Lincoln Feast.)