Mexico officials ramp up meetings in Washington amid tariff threats, security tensions

Senior Mexican government officials are attending a flurry of meetings with US counterparts in Washington this week as bilateral tensions simmer over tariffs, drug gangs and migration.

Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet on Thursday with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and on Friday with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, an economy ministry spokesperson said.

Mexican Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Luis Rosendo Gutierrez is also already in Washington for meetings.

The officials will discuss trade negotiations between the two countries, the spokesperson added, following remarks by President Donald Trump that stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada would take effect on April 2.

That date is about a month later than an earlier deadline of March 4 for the US to impose blanket 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods if those countries do not clamp down on the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.

The tariff back-and-forth comes ahead of a planned 2026 revision of the US-Mexico-Canada trade pact that Trump negotiated during his previous term. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged on Wednesday that a renegotiation of the accord would likely take place sooner.

Sheinbaum also said on Wednesday her government’s entire security cabinet – including the foreign minister, heads of the Army and Navy, the security chief and attorney general – will attend meetings in the US capital with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.

The leftist leader noted that preparations for the talks have been ongoing for several days, and that her envoys will seek agreements “within the framework of our sovereignty.”

Regarding both tariffs and security, Mexico has said it is seeking coordination and collaboration with its northern neighbor, and has pushed for the United States to do more to prevent the southern flow of guns to criminal groups.