Unfazed by Trump’s tariffs, Mexico hopes for a greater deal – DW – 04/09/2025 | EUROtoday

These days, the ambiance within the Mexican metropolis of Puebla is a mixture of calm and stress. In the streets of Mexico’s primary auto business hub, distributors are promoting their roast rooster from barbecues as all the time, whereas a avenue musician within the background tries to coax a couple of cash from passersby together with his efficiency.

On the floor, life appears to be occurring as common. And but, on at the present time, everybody retains anxiously checking their telephones to listen to the newest information from the US, the place Donald Trump is about to make his “Liberation Day” announcement of which nation must endure what tariffs sooner or later.

When the updates lastly popped up on folks’s screens, the reduction was palpable. The measures popping out of the White House seemed to be higher than feared for each town and the nation

A mixture of concern and confidence

In Mexico — a rustic that has fought laborious to earn its fame as a dependable automobile manufacturing hub — public opinion about Trump’s commerce insurance policies, nonetheless, stays divided.

Speaking with DW, economics pupil Fabricio Fernandez says there was “no reason to be afraid,” as a result of “it’s simple — he [Trump] pays the tariffs himself.”

Pensioner Julia, alternatively, was visibly extra involved. She fears for the way forward for Puebla as an automotive heart.

“It’s all very unsettling. For the people, for the country, for everything. When I go to the supermarket, everything is more expensive, and if jobs disappear, things will get even worse,” she informed DW.

Mexico’s auto sector thriving after Trump deal

Thomas Karig recollects Donald Trump’s first time period in workplace throughout which the US president compelled Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which was lastly substituted by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The new commerce pact has led to “strong growth among auto parts suppliers in Mexico,” the 71-year-old enterprise guide primarily based in Puebla informed DW.

Formerly the vp of company relations at Volkswagen in Puebla, Karig attributes this to the share of so-called “regional content” — merchandise made throughout the North American area — which was a US requirement, and which has since elevated by 20.5% proportion factors to a complete of 75%.

“You could definitely say the renegotiation turned out to be a success story for both the US and Mexico,” Karig stated.

After preliminary fears of a large tariffs blow to the Mexican economic system have subsided, Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard additionally confirmed himself to be extra assured in a latest interview with native radio station Radio Formula.

Donald Trump’s “restructuring of global trade” may really be a serious alternative for Mexico, he stated.

“What we saw yesterday was the birth of a new trade and likely also a geopolitical order. One phase is over, and another has begun,” Ebrard acknowledged.

Mexico is in a powerful place, he added, because of the USMCA pact that was “still in place,” and “extremely valuable for Mexico.”

“We don’t have any reciprocal tariffs. A large portion of our foreign trade — handled through the USMCA — is tariff-free. That’s very good news.”

USCMA on the desk once more

Thomas Karig even believes that Trump may search one other renegotiation of the commerce phrases with Mexico with the intention of “further strengthening regional content.” He argued that Mexico had “done well with its measured approach” thus far.

“Sure, Mexico could retaliate with tariffs on US products,” Karig famous, “but the question is whether that would really make sense or be productive.”

After all, he added, tariffs are in the end a tax — one paid both by customers or by companies. “And that would really only hurt the Mexican people.”

Business guide Kenneth Smith Ramos, a former chief negotiator for the Mexican authorities within the USCMA talks, thinks the Trump administration is set to “reopen and renegotiate” the settlement, he informed reporters on the sidelines of the Logistics World business occasion in Mexico City not too long ago.

Despite the Mexican authorities’s composed perspective towards the commerce insurance policies at the moment being pursued by its neighbor to the north, information from the nation’s all-important automotive business just isn’t all that constructive.

Mexican media outlet Millennium reported not too long ago that automaker Stellantis determined to halt manufacturing at two of its Mexican vegetation — Saltillo Van and Toluca — following Trump’s announcement of tariffs on imported automobiles. And in keeping with information portal Aristegui NewsJapanese carmaker Nissan had additionally quickly shut down operations at two of its Mexico vegetation the place industrial automobiles are made.

On a brighter be aware, Sweden’s Volvo is outwardly planning to spice up its funding in Mexico, in keeping with Economy Minister Ebrard, in search of to spend $700 million (€639 million) on its plant in Cienega de Flores.

This article was initially written in German.