Progress toward a US-Mexico tariff deal has stalled, WSJ reports

Oct 15 (Reuters) – Progress toward a US-Mexico tariff deal has stalled after opposition from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the talks.

The US and Mexico had been closing in on a deal that would reduce US levies on steel, aluminum and automobiles in return for concessions from Mexico, but progress has slowed due to disagreements over the American levies on vehicles and metals, the report said.

Lutnick has opposed significant reductions in the 25% tariff on Mexican automobiles and the 50% levies on steel and aluminum, and he objected to reductions in tariffs on finished products made of steel and aluminum, the Journal added.

However, Mexico’s deputy trade minister Luis Rosendo Gutierrez told the Journal there was progress in the negotiations, while a US Commerce Department spokesperson told the newspaper the department was in constant dialogue with Mexico on trade.

Mexico’s ministry of economy and the US Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Chris Thomas in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Thomas Derpinghaus)