Sheinbaum Floats December Trump Meeting While Tariff Talks Continue
President Sheinbaum said she will probably meet Trump around the G20 in December, though no tariff deal has been announced. Here is what remains open.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday, Nov. 12, that she will probably meet U.S. President Donald Trump in December, even though Mexico and the United States have not finished negotiating tariffs. The comment came during her morning press conference, according to Publimetro México.
The remark changes the order she described earlier. On Aug. 26, she said a face-to-face meeting could happen once the two governments reached an agreement.
From waiting for a deal to considering a meeting
Asked whether she might see Trump at the APEC summit in China, Sheinbaum pointed instead to the G20 leaders’ summit in the United States, scheduled for Dec. 14 and 15. She told reporters the two presidents would probably meet at Mar-a-Lago, which she described as the site of the G20 meeting. She added that any bilateral meeting would take place on U.S. soil and that the two governments are in constant contact on trade.
She did not give a date for a meeting or announce an agreement that would settle the tariff dispute, which Publimetro says has run since last year. Nor did she say whether her August condition still applies. In August she also argued that a meeting was not urgent, because the governments were already talking by phone and through their teams, and said Mexico wanted the best possible deal without giving up sovereignty or independence.
What is still unresolved
The main open item is a reduction of U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, sectors that matter for Mexican exports. On Oct. 26, after Trump suggested progress toward an understanding, Sheinbaum said the talks were far along but not finished. In her words, “Vamos muy avanzados, pero todavía falta” (we are well advanced, but there is still some way to go).
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s secretary of economy, leads the negotiations. He is in contact with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Commerce Department. According to Publimetro, the Mexican government wants lower tariffs on industrial goods, wants to keep the advantages of the USMCA (known in Mexico as the T-MEC, the trade agreement among Mexico, the United States and Canada), and wants to avoid new restrictions on trade.
Publimetro notes that the steel, aluminum and auto tariffs are separate from the USMCA talks themselves, because the United States imposed some of them unilaterally on national security grounds. A joint statement published in July by Ebrard and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer listed several subjects for negotiation: economic security, supply chains, steel, aluminum and automobiles.
Where the meeting could happen
Sheinbaum named Mar-a-Lago, but the U.S. Treasury Department has confirmed that the leaders’ summit will be held at Trump National Doral in Miami on Dec. 14 and 15. These are different properties, so a possible bilateral conversation at Mar-a-Lago is also unconfirmed. No bilateral meeting has been publicly confirmed.
What this means for Mexico
For exporters and their supply chains, the tariff talks decide the cost of selling steel, aluminum and cars into the U.S. market. Publimetro points to industries whose production is integrated on both sides of the border as the most exposed.
If the meeting happens, it is not yet known whether tariffs would be on the agenda or what Mexico might get from it. Readers can follow the next updates from Sheinbaum’s morning conferences and from the Ministry of Economy (Secretaría de Economía).
Source: Publimetro México
