The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, reaffirmed this Wednesday, October 8, that the review of the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA), scheduled for 2026, must be carried out in a trilateral manner, dismissing the suggestion of her U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, to seek a bilateral agreement.

“The USMCA is law in Canada, the United States and Mexico. So, if it wanted to change, a very deep review would have to be made,” the president said at a press conference, stressing that any substantial change would involve legal aspects.

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The occupant of the White House recently met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington, where he raised the possibility of renegotiating the USMCA, as was done in 2020, or establishing a bilateral and comprehensive trade agreement with Ottawa.

Faced with the scenario, the Mexican president announced that she is evaluating requesting a telephone conversation with Trump. The decision will depend on the results of the high-level meetings scheduled for next week in Washington between Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard and his U.S. Trade counterpart, Howard Lutnick.

The meeting is focused on the dispute over unilateral tariffs of 30 percent that the United States imposed on Mexican imports, whose application is paused by a truce that expires at the end of October. Sheinbaum pointed out that the automotive and steel sectors are the main focus of these negotiations.

Despite the preference for the trilateral route, the Mexican head of state acknowledged that the renegotiation of the USMCA could include “some bilateral meetings” as part of the process, and was optimistic about reaching a good agreement soon. “We are going to do well, we are optimistic,” he said.

Claudia Sheinbaum pointed out that, in parallel to the formal review of the USMCA (which is in a preliminary phase of consultations that began in September and will last between 60 and 90 days), other bilateral issues are being negotiated between the three countries.

Among these, a U.S. demand for Mexico to allocate more budget to labor courts stands out. These courts were created as part of the 2019 labor market reform, implemented to comply with the standards established in the USMCA. “The United States is counting only the budget that comes from the federal government, but each state of the Republic gives a budget to its own courts, which if they are put together are more than 4,000 million pesos (200 million dollars),” said the president.

Finally, the head of state also referred to collaboration on border security and the fight against drug trafficking, indicating that there is a “good understanding” with Washington.

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