US deals with Canada, Mexico in pipeline: prelude to an expanded trade push against China?

Safeguarding their volatile trade relationships with the US and avoiding tariffs could take precedence for US neighbours over deals with China, according to analysts

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Analysts say countries that align with US President Donald Trump’s trade agenda could avoid tariffs, while China could be adversely affected. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30pm, 5 Mar 2025Updated: 10:59pm, 5 Mar 2025

Expected US deals with Canada and Mexico, both hit by US import tariffs this week, may foreshadow multiple countries aligning their trade rules with President Donald Trump’s punitive push against China to avoid more trouble from Washington, analysts said on Wednesday.

Officials from Mexico and Canada “were on the phone with me all day today, trying to show that they’ll do better”, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said via X on Tuesday, after Trump hit both neighbours with 25 per cent tariffs.

But Lutnick did not mention talks with China, a geopolitical rival that was slapped with an additional 10 per cent tariff on Tuesday after doing the same last month, and some analysts have suggested that containing China through a network of other countries may be the ultimate US goal.

“The reality is that, for Mexico and Canada, the US is a much more important economic partner than China,” said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, China centre head with The Conference Board research organisation.

“In fact, before the Trump administration imposed a 25 per cent tariff on their imports, there were signs suggesting that both nations were ready to adopt a firmer stance on China to safeguard their trade relationship with the US.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV on Friday that Mexico had made a “very interesting proposal” to match the US on its China tariffs.