Mexico is offering to increase purchases of American goods while tightening its trade exposure to China as President Claudia Sheinbaum seeks an agreement with the Trump administration over tariffs and the future of USMCA.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

Mexico is preparing to shift more of its purchasing toward the United States as negotiations over North American trade intensify, with President Claudia Sheinbaum saying Monday that her government intends to increase American imports while reducing purchases from other countries.

The proposal puts Mexico’s trade relationship with China increasingly at the center of talks over the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, as the Trump administration presses its southern neighbor to reduce the bilateral U.S. trade deficit, strengthen North American manufacturing and limit the role of nonmember countries in regional supply chains.

“The United States is asking for its so-called trade deficit to be reduced,” Sheinbaum said during her Monday morning news conference, according to Reuters.

Sheinbaum said Mexico is examining how it can purchase more goods from the United States while decreasing imports from elsewhere as part of the continuing USMCA negotiations. The announcement represented one of Mexico’s clearest indications that changing the composition of its imports could become part of a broader arrangement with Washington.

The strategy comes after Mexico already raised substantial barriers against products from China and other countries that do not have free-trade agreements with Mexico.

New duties that took effect at the beginning of 2026 covered thousands of products, including vehicles, auto parts, textiles, clothing, plastics and steel. Most of the new tariffs rose as high as 35%, while tariffs on automobiles from China and other Asian countries were increased to as much as 50%. China was expected to experience the largest impact from the measures. (Reuters reported on the tariff changes.)

The Mexican government has publicly said those tariffs are intended to protect domestic production, jobs and industries rather than target any particular country. Mexico’s Economy Ministry said the changes were designed to protect nearly 350,000 jobs in industries including steel, automobiles, footwear and textiles.

The policies nevertheless move Mexico closer to a major Trump administration objective: reducing China’s involvement in supply chains serving the United States, Mexico and Canada.

That issue became an explicit part of the USMCA review months before Monday’s announcement.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard began bilateral preparations in March, directing negotiators to examine measures that would make the trade agreement’s benefits flow primarily to its three members. The countries specifically identified “reducing dependence” on imports from outside North America, strengthening rules of origin and increasing supply-chain security as priorities.

Those talks have since expanded across industries that account for a large share of trade between the two countries.

During a July negotiating round, U.S. and Mexican officials discussed automobiles, steel and aluminum, agriculture, electronic payments, labor rules and broader economic-security issues.

Greer and Sheinbaum also agreed on what the U.S. Trade Representative’s office described as an urgent need to expand North American manufacturing, reinforce regional supply chains and address “free-riding” by countries outside USMCA.

China is not named in that phrase, but Chinese manufacturing and investment have been a central concern in the North American negotiations.

Washington has sought tighter rules intended to prevent goods containing substantial Chinese or other non-North American content from receiving the preferential tariff treatment provided under USMCA.

Automobiles have been particularly important.

The Trump administration has proposed tightening regional content requirements for vehicles, including increasing the required percentage of North American content and adding U.S.-specific content requirements. Those proposals are intended in part to shift more production of components from Asia into North America.

Mexico’s Chinese auto market has grown despite the tariff increases. Chinese brands accounted for about 17% of Mexican new-vehicle sales during the first half of 2026, according to industry data reported by Reuters, although imports of Chinese vehicles fell sharply after inventories accumulated before the new duties were imposed.

Mexico’s willingness to make further trade changes comes as its negotiations with Washington remain active while relations between the United States and Canada have moved in a different direction.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government broke off negotiations with Washington in August after the countries failed to reach an agreement.

The United States subsequently imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian products, according to Reuters. Canada answered with its own retaliatory tariff package, which took effect Sept. 8 and applies rates of 15%, 25% and 50% to goods in sectors including steel, dairy products, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics and pulp and paper.

Canadian government figures place the affected U.S. imports at C$27.6 billion. Ottawa said it was matching the corresponding U.S. tariff rates on targeted products.

Mexico, meanwhile, has continued seeking an accommodation.

Sheinbaum said Friday that her government was “working towards” an agreement with Trump following discussions between the two leaders.

Among Mexico’s priorities are reductions in U.S. tariffs affecting Mexican steel, aluminum and automobiles.

The discussions are taking place under an unusual stage of the USMCA review process.

The Trump administration declined on July 1 to renew the trade agreement in its current form for another 16-year term.

That decision did not terminate USMCA.

Greer said after the formal joint review that the United States would continue negotiating with both Mexico and Canada over what the administration considers shortcomings in the agreement, including U.S. trade deficits with both countries. The agreement remains legally in force while those negotiations continue.

Under USMCA’s review mechanism, failure to agree on a renewal in 2026 triggers annual reviews rather than immediate expiration. Unless the countries eventually agree to extend the pact, the process can continue until 2036.

That structure gives Washington, Mexico City and Ottawa years to resolve their differences but creates uncertainty for companies making long-term investment and supply-chain decisions.

Mexico appears to be pursuing an interim agreement that could address U.S. tariff concerns without waiting for every disagreement over the larger North American pact to be resolved.

A Monday Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis identified additional Mexican purchases of American agricultural products, energy and manufactured goods as one possible concession to Washington.

The analysis said potentially more significant changes could involve Mexico aligning more closely with the United States on tariffs, investment screening, export controls and other economic-security measures aimed at nonmarket economies, particularly China.

Such measures could have consequences extending beyond the bilateral U.S.-Mexico trade balance.

Mexico has become deeply integrated into global manufacturing networks, with companies importing parts and materials from Asia and using them in goods assembled domestically. Stricter rules governing Chinese content could require companies operating in Mexico to replace suppliers, increase North American sourcing or restructure their production chains to preserve favorable access to the U.S. market.

Washington’s objective is not simply to increase American exports to Mexico. U.S. officials have repeatedly said they want the North American agreement to encourage more production within the region and prevent outside countries from obtaining its advantages indirectly.

Mexico, for its part, must balance those U.S. demands with its domestic economic interests and commercial relationships outside North America.

Sheinbaum’s government has said its tariff increases on countries without trade agreements are intended to support Mexican industrialization, protect jobs and reduce trade imbalances. China criticized the measures when they were adopted, while some Mexican companies also warned that higher duties on imported inputs could increase their costs.

The emerging U.S.-Mexico negotiations therefore involve more than a traditional tariff exchange.

Mexico is seeking relief for key exports to the United States while Washington is pressing for changes that could reshape how Mexican companies source materials, manufacture products and conduct business with China and other countries outside North America.

The agreement under review dates to Trump’s first administration.

The United States, Mexico and Canada signed USMCA in November 2018 as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump signed U.S. implementing legislation in January 2020, and the pact entered into force July 1, 2020.

Six years later, the agreement’s first scheduled joint review has developed into a broader negotiation over the direction of North American commerce.

For Mexico, Monday’s announcement signals a willingness to respond to Trump’s trade-deficit concerns by purchasing more U.S. products while continuing policies that reduce reliance on imports from China and other non-USMCA economies.

Whether those concessions are sufficient to produce a wider agreement remains unresolved, but Mexico and the United States continue negotiating while USMCA stays in force and the separate U.S.-Canada trade dispute remains unsettled.

Original article