Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she had offered her US counterpart Donald Trump an agreement on trade, security and migration after he left the G7 summit in Canada.
Sheinbaum had been due to hold talks with Trump at the summit in Kananaskis, but he left the gathering early over the Iran-Israel war, missing talks with Sheinbaum and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a telephone call with Trump on Tuesday, “I raised the question of why we didn’t have a general agreement related to security, migration, and also trade…and he agreed,” Sheinbaum told her regular morning conference.
Security, migration, and trade have been subjects of tension between Mexico and the United States since Trump’s return to the White House on January 20.
Trump has repeatedly threatened the United States’ biggest trading partner with steep tariffs, accusing it and Canada of failing to halt the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs onto US territory.
Mexico — which has a free-trade deal with the United States and Canada — avoided the reciprocal tariffs that Trump imposed on dozens of countries, but its car, steel and aluminum exports still face duties.
Sheinbaum made clear that her proposed accord was not related to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, which is due to be reviewed by July next year.
She said she wanted any future deal on migration to include Mexican families who have been living in the United States for years.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly pushed back against Trump’s claim that Mexico is flooding the United States with criminals, stressing the contribution of Mexican workers to the US economy.
She quoted Trump as saying: “It’s true, there are many Mexican families who work for the good of our country.”
Sheinbaum added that Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday to discuss trade issues.
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