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Mexico and Brazil agree to strengthen
trade ties in the wake of Trump tariff turmoil
[April 10, 2025]
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The leaders of Mexico and Brazil said on
Wednesday they would work to strengthen trade between their nations —
Latin America's two biggest economies — as a counterweight to U.S.
President Donald Trump's shifting positions on global tariffs that have
thrown markets into chaos.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Honduras,
where leaders strategized how to respond Trump's tariffs and escalating
deportations, among other issues. |
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flashes a thumbs up and
winks, accompanied by first lady Rosangela da Silva during a
presentation of the federal government's achievements of the past two
years, in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo
Peres) |
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“We
decided to further strengthen relations between our two
countries by promoting regular meetings between our governments
and the business sectors of Brazil and Mexico,” Lula said on X.
The meeting of 11 heads of state and 20 representatives from
Latin America and the Caribbean, a bloc known as the Community
of Latin American and Caribbean States, was marked by a call to
put aside differences in the face of global tensions.
“Today more than ever is a good time to recognize that Latin
America and the Caribbean require unity and solidarity,”
Sheinbaum said during the summit.
Trump on Wednesday suspended his global tariffs for 90 days on
most countries other than China, which was hit with increased
125% tariffs, another escalation in the trade war between the
two countries.
Even with the pause in tariffs, resentment still simmers among
many trading partners and U.S. allies, which have started to
look for other reliable trade alternatives in the face of
uncertainty under the Trump administration.
Adding to the economic turmoil are also larger frustrations over
Trump's deportation tactics, increasingly the subject of legal
scrutiny and human rights criticisms, and moves by his
administration that some say infringe on the sovereignty of
foreign nations.
That has spanned from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying
that Chinese presence in the Panama Canal represents a security
threat, to recent reports that the Trump administration is
studying the possibility of drone strikes against Mexican
cartels, which Sheinbaum has sharply rejected.
“We do not agree with any kind of intervention or interference,"
she told reporters Tuesday in her morning news conference.
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