Mexico will face a complicated review of the USMCA if the U.S. does not remove current tariffs on North America or if it ends up imposing seven additional blocks of tariffs on products or sectors currently under investigation.
Mexico will face a complicated review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) if the United States does not remove the current tariffs on North America or ends up imposing seven additional blocks of tariffs on products or sectors currently under investigation, according to Kenneth Smith, international trade expert and partner at AGON.
“If, when you sit down to talk about the future of the USMCA, you still have these tariffs in place and the threat of future tariffs — because the U.S. is investigating seven sectors for potential new tariffs on national security grounds — then we are going to have a complicated review of the USMCA,” Smith said in a televised interview.
U.S. customs currently apply tariffs of 35% on Canadian products and 25% on Mexican products that do not comply with USMCA rules; 25% tariffs on light vehicles from both countries (excluding U.S. content); and 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper from both nations. Additionally, the administration of President Donald Trump is conducting investigations, for example, on chips and pharmaceutical products.