MEXICO CITY, July 12. /TASS/. Mexico has slammed US President Donald Trump’s plans to imposed 30% tariffs on Mexican goods from August 1 as an "unfair deal" and is in talks with the US side to settle this situation, according to a joint statement by the Mexican foreign and economy ministries after Friday’s meeting between Mexican and US officials in Washington.

"We discussed the topics of security, migration, border, and water resources management, as well as economic relations between the two countries. It was announced that as part of the change of the US trade policy, all countries will receive a letter signed by the US president notifying about the new tariff from August 1. We mentioned at the table that it was an unfair deal and that we did not agree," the statement said.

According to the document, the United States and Mexico agreed to set up a permanent working group to consider key issues in the bilateral relations. The first major task of this group will be to try to find alternatives to protect businesses and jobs on both sides of the border before August 1. The statement noted that a special platform has been set up to settle all potential consequences before the new tariffs come into effect. "In other words, Mexico is already in talks," the document said.

US tariffs

Earlier in the day, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform a letter to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum notifying that starting on August 1, 2025, the United States will charge Mexico a tariff of 30% on that country’s products sent to the United States. According to the US leader, this country has failed to do enough to stop "the cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a narco-trafficking playground."

A similar letter was sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. According to Trump, there will be no tariffs if the EU and Mexico begin manufacturing their products within the United States. He also warned that should they raise their tariffs in response, the United States will add to the 30% in plans to charge "whatever number" they "choose to raise them by."

On April 2, Trump announced tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on the list. Universal tariffs of 10% took effect on April 5, and individual tariffs took effect on April 9. On the same day, the US leader announced that he would suspend additional reciprocal tariffs on a number of states and territories for 90 days. The White House explained that the pause was due to ongoing trade negotiations and that a general 10% tariff would be in effect during this period. On June 27, Trump clarified that the US would notify a number of countries, with which it would not sign separate agreements, about further conditions for bilateral trade within approximately a week and a half. These conditions include the tariff rates on goods they supply to the US market. The US administration began sending out these notifications several days ago.