LatinNews Daily - 22 November 2024

*Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that the Canadian government does not support removing Mexico from the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), after Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under pressure from Canadian provincial and territorial premiers to strike a bilateral trade deal with the US that excludes Mexico. Sheinbaum said yesterday that Trudeau “does not agree with removing Mexico from the treaty, he told me this very clearly, and we agreed to maintain a dialogue”. She also acknowledged Canadian concerns regarding reports of plans by a Chinese car manufacturing firm to build a plant in Mexico, but she said that this plant doesn’t exist, adding that the firm’s only plant in North America was in the US, in Pasadena city, California state. International media such as Associated Press suggest that this is an apparent reference to Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD, which earlier this year announced plans to build a factory in northern Mexico which have since been put on hold. Yet Trudeau himself yesterday cast uncertainty over Canada’s plans, saying “we will fight for Canadians, we will secure Canadian jobs & seek Canadian growth long into the future. Ideally, we do that as a united North American market. But pending decisions & choices that Mexico has made we may have to look at other options”. Sheinbaum, who met with Trudeau on 18 November on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil, said that the pressure on Trudeau from the Canadian premiers was “part of the electoral campaign” ahead of federal elections in October 2025. Canadian opposition figures have accused Mexico of causing job losses in Canada and the US by importing cheap parts from China for ‘Made in Mexico’ products.