Mexico risks a new tariff blow on $15 billion of truck exports

Mexican officials vowed to push back against new tariffs the Trump administration is planning on heavy trucks, yet another hurdle the US is throwing in front of its southern neighbor ahead of next year’s review of their trade deal.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said she may reach out to Donald Trump by phone about the new duties, which the US president has said will be imposed on Nov. 1. While the import tax applies to trucks from all over the world, Mexico would be hit the hardest, she said in a news conference Tuesday.

Mexico supplies 70% of the heavy trucks imported by US, making them an important product for the local economy, Deputy Economy Minister for Foreign Trade Luis Rosendo Gutierrez said Tuesday during a BloombergNEF forum in Mexico City. He said Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard is working with US officials to avoid the new duty.

“The trade issue is very dynamic: every day we have news and we must adapt,” Gutierrez said. “Tariffs on heavy trucks affect $15 billion in exports.”

Among major manufacturers in Mexico, International Motors LLC is the most vulnerable, since almost all of its US trucks are made across the border. Daimler Truck Holding AG gets about 83% of its US trucks from Mexican manufacturing sites.

Trump’s announcement this week was tied to a probe launched in April by the US Commerce Department into heavy truck imports. That investigation, conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, allows for the imposition of import taxes on goods deemed critical to national security.

The Commerce Department concluded that a “small number” of foreign suppliers made up the bulk of US imports due to “predatory trade practices.”

Trump imposed a tariff of 25% on Mexican goods earlier this year, though most are exempted because they comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade pact. Those levies were tied to what the US president has called Mexico’s lack of effort in combating fentanyl trafficking.

The US has also put higher duties on Mexican tomatoes, citing anticompetitive behavior; shut off cattle imports because of the spread of the New World screwworm pest; and briefly threatened tariffs over a water-sharing agreement. Mexico is also trying to win an exemption from global US tariffs on steel and other products.

Yet despite all the challenges, Sheinbaum has maintained a good relationship with Trump, who has spoken admiringly of her after their phone calls. In late July, Trump agreed to continue talks with Mexico for a 90-day period, instead of further hiking tariffs as he did to other countries at the time.

Trump has in the past openly criticized the free trade pact known as USMCA, raising questions about whether the US will push for drastic changes during the 2026 review, or agree to let the deal stand largely in its current form. Mexico has stressed the importance of the agreement, which has been in place since 2020.

“President Sheinbaum’s form of managing it, which has led to an explicit recognition of the USMCA and that Mexico be treated differently than other countries in the world, has been important,” said Altagracia Gomez Sierra, a business adviser for the government and chair of the board of Grupo Minsa, at the BloombergNEF forum. “Only together can we maintain our competitiveness.”