Mexico and the U.S. Push Toward an Interim Deal on Tariffs
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on September 18, 2026, that she held a "very good" phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump and that progress is being made toward a potential agreement between Mexico and the United States. Al Jazeera
Sheinbaum said the call took place on Wednesday and she disclosed it at her morning news conference on Friday, September 18. She said she hopes any deal will bring a decrease in U.S. tariffs on Mexican products. Tariffs are taxes paid at the border that raise the price of goods from another country.
Mexico is seeking tariff relief for steel, aluminium and cars, and both governments want a bilateral trade deal, a deal between two countries, before the midterm elections in the United States in November. In September 2026, the talks aimed at an interim bilateral bargain, a temporary deal, under which Mexico could win relief from some U.S. tariffs. Reuters
The September 18 announcement follows a series of pauses and extensions. In July 2025, the United States agreed to pause for 90 days an increase in tariffs on some Mexican goods to 30% from 25% while trade talks continued. Earlier, Mexico and the United States had agreed to set up working groups on trade and security after agreeing to pause the 25 percent tariffs for one month. Mexico later said it had avoided an increase in tariffs and secured 90 days to build a long-term agreement.
There have been several leader-level calls during this process. On January 29, 2026, Sheinbaum described a call with Trump on trade as productive. On February 4, 2026, she held a press conference about T-MEC negotiations and calls with Trump. T-MEC is Mexico's name for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. On September 18, 2026, she said agreements were reached with Trump as Washington worked toward a trade deal.
The talks sit inside the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is up for review in 2026. Sheinbaum has said Trump is open to individual bilateral trade deals rather than requiring everything to stay trilateral, or three-country, under the USMCA. Border Report In November 2024, she had warned that U.S. tariffs would cause inflation and job losses in both countries. Inflation here means a broad rise in prices.
The broader context here is a shift from a trilateral review to parallel bilateral tracks. An interim U.S.-Mexico understanding on tariff relief for certain industries would set terms, procedures and precedents that shape the wider USMCA review. Tariffs are the lever. The working groups on trade and security provide the channel.
Looking to the next phase, the variables to watch are scope, duration and enforceability. Sheinbaum has framed the goal as a decrease in tariffs, with specific relief for steel, aluminium and cars. Washington has used short-term pauses, first one month and then 90 days, to keep talks moving without locking in a final rate structure. An interim bargain before the November midterms would likely be partial and time-bound, leaving the full trilateral review to resolve consistency across all three parties.
