Mexico rules out free trade agreement with Brazil amid trade tensions with US
While the two countries signed several cooperation agreements, President Sheinbaum said there are no plans to sign a broader treaty. Brazil faces 50% tariffs from the U.S., while Mexico is negotiating a long-term agreement with Washington to avoid imposing tariffs.
Claudia Sheinbaum and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
(AFP) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday ruled out signing a free trade agreement with Brazil, amid pressure the two largest economies in Latin America face from President Donald Trump's trade policy.
The two countries signed cooperation agreements in areas such as biofuels and competitiveness during a visit to Mexico by Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, but Sheinbaum said there are no plans to sign a broader treaty.
Mundo
Is there a Brazilian extraction plan to protect Maduro from the US? This is all that is known
Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón
"We are not thinking of a free trade agreement (...) but rather of collaboration," Sheinbaum assured when asked by a journalist at her usual press conference, hours before receiving Alckmin at the Government Palace.
Cooperation work begins
Mexican Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard announced Thursday that both governments signed a memorandum of understanding "to initiate cooperation tasks" that will also allow Mexico to increase its automotive exports to Brazil.
Similarly, a pact was proposed between the health regulatory agencies of both countries to accelerate the approval of new medicines and collaboration in deep water oil exploration, where Brazil has "a very large experience," Ebrard noted.
"Brazil produces and has technology in certain areas that interest Mexico and we also have development in certain areas that interest" the South American country, Sheinbaum summarized.
Lula wants to expand trade cooperation with Mexico
During a phone call with Sheinbaum in late July, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stressed the importance of "deepening" the trade relationship with Mexico to address the "moment of uncertainty" his country faces due to customs taxes.
Mundo
Lula da Silva claims that the United States revoked the visa of Brazil's justice minister
Virginia Martínez
Brazil faces 50% tariffs from the United States, while Mexico is negotiating a long-term agreement with Washington to avoid the imposition of customs levies.
Since then, Brasilia has been seeking to expand the cooperation agreement in force with Mexico and expand the flow of goods between the two nations, with a focus on sectors such as the pharmaceutical, agricultural and aerospace sectors, Lula said when sharing on the social network X the result of that conversation.
Lula's policy is an "unusual and extraordinary threat"
Washington raised its customs tariffs from 10% to 50% because of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's policy, which it calls an "unusual and extraordinary threat" and in protest against Bolsonaro's trial for allegedly attempting a coup.
Trump has excluded from the new levies essential goods for the first Latin American economy such as orange juice, energy, civil aircraft and their components, fertilizers, precious metals, cellulose pulp and pig iron, among others. Additionally, it includes coffee and meat.
LATEST
