Mexico, US to work to improve trade balance: Sheinbaum

Mexico City, May 2 (IANS) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she had a "very positive" telephone call with her US counterpart Donald Trump, during which they agreed to continue working together to improve the trade balance and address pending issues.

Sheinbaum described her sixth and most recent call with Trump as "positive," noting on X that both administrations are working to improve trade conditions of their nations.

"I had a very positive conversation with President Trump; we agreed that the Secretaries of Finance and the Treasury, as well as the Secretaries of Economy and Commerce, will continue working in the coming days on alternatives to improve our trade balance and advance pending issues for the benefit of both countries," Sheinbaum posted on Thursday on social media platform X.

Mexico's Secretary of Finance Edgar Amador Zamora and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be in charge of the bilateral effort, Xinhua news agency reported.

The phone call, the sixth between the two leaders, took place the same week Trump marked his first 100 days in office amid rising tensions over the United States' mass deportations of undocumented migrants and launch of trade tariffs, including on various Mexican products.

The governments of Mexico and the United States are holding negotiations aimed at reaching agreements that would prevent the implementation of several Trump executive orders in economic sectors such as steel, aluminum and the automotive industry.

Sheinbaum said at a news conference that Trump's trade policies are aimed at narrowing the deficit that currently favours Mexican exports.

"What the United States government is very interested in is reducing the deficit — what they call the deficit with Mexico — and for some time now, we have been proposing that we look for ways, across the entire economy, to increase purchases from the United States," she added.

Mexico managed to avoid much of Trump's commercial onslaught, fending off most of his threatened tariffs on Mexican exports.

The US President continues, however, to hold Mexico accountable for the trade deficit between the two countries.

Trump launched a fierce economic policy to protect US industry since the start of his second term in January.

Tariffs, a hallmark of his administration, have sought to reverse decades of trade deficits with key commercial partners, including Mexico, which currently ranks as the US' leading trade partner.

In January, the US reported a trade deficit with Mexico of $13.7 billion, driven by a 9.5 per cent increase in imports from Mexico compared to just a 5.3 per cent rise in US exports to its southern neighbour, year-over-year.

--IANS

int/khz