Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City. EFE/José Méndez
Mexico City, July 23 (EFE) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated this Thursday that her meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will serve to assess the progress of negotiations on the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as part of a series of bilateral meetings led by the Ministry of Economy.
“There has been a lot of work; this is not an isolated meeting. It is part of a series of meetings that the Ministry of Economy and the team we appointed to support it have held,” the president told the media after her morning press conference.
Sheinbaum also explained that the objective of the meeting will be to “evaluate how far we’ve come, what they are proposing, and the timeline,” as well as to learn firsthand how the United States is approaching the review process of the trade agreement.
Greer arrived in Mexico to participate, along with officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in the third round of bilateral talks on the USMCA, led by Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
The meetings, which began Tuesday and conclude this Thursday in Mexico City, include topics such as steel and aluminum tariffs, the automotive industry, economic security, labor issues, agriculture, and electronic payment services.
Regarding the latter, Sheinbaum indicated that during the meeting she will also explain Mexico’s position on compliance with the 1944 Water Treaty, after US lawmakers questioned whether the country has delivered the agreed-upon volumes of water.
“Yes, because it is very important. Yesterday in the Senate, they raised the issue that we are not meeting our water quota, and we are,” she stated.
Regarding the possibility of Washington imposing new tariffs under Section 301 of the U.S. trade law, the president avoided anticipating the Trump administration’s decision and assured that talks are continuing through various channels.
“It’s not about responding to every issue they raise. The other issues will be addressed at the negotiating table… We don’t know what the United States is going to do; what we’re seeking is the best possible conditions. We’ve done everything humanly possible to achieve the best possible conditions,” she stated.
This third round of talks is the first since the United States rejected automatically extending the USMCA for another 16 years and opted instead for annual reviews until 2036.
The Mexican government seeks to ensure that these evaluations are limited to verifying compliance with the treaty and do not become periodic renegotiations, in addition to preserving the preferential access that allows around 85% of Mexican exports to enter the US market without tariffs.
