Trump, Sheinbaum talk as US, Mexico close in on a trade agreement
Por Megan Messerly — POLITICO – TOP Stories
President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke by phone Wednesday as the two countries close in on a trade deal, according to a person familiar with the call and a U.S. official.
The person familiar with the call, granted anonymity to discuss it, described the conversation as “so-so” and said that it “created a bit of noise” as “new topics” were introduced into the leaders’ discussion. It was not immediately clear what the new topics were or which side brought them into the discussion.
The U.S. official, also granted anonymity to discuss the conversation, confirmed that the leaders spoke Wednesday but described the call as “constructive.”
“U.S.-Mexico talks are active and continue to move in a positive direction,” the official said. “Any notion that the call didn’t go well is wrong.”
When the two leaders spoke, Mexican officials believed that they were closing in on a deal to resolve concerns related to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free trade pact Trump signed in his first term, the person familiar with the conversation added.
The fourth round of formal discussions between the two countries as part of an ongoing review of the USMCA is now set to take place Sept. 28 and 29, after being rescheduled a week, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
The two countries have been in increasingly advanced negotiations between Washington and Mexico over the future of the trade pact. After the third round of trade talks in July, between Sheinbaum and U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer in Mexico City, the two sides publicly touted progress on issues including cars, steel and aluminum, agriculture, labor and economic security and agreed to hold a fourth round of talks in Washington in September.
The White House and the Mexican embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the call.
Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories
