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Three partners in trade tussle after Trump tariff threats

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Mexico wants to 'come to the table' to negotiate

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Trump has accused Mexico of being a backdoor to Chinese

goods

and investment

(Adds Biden's statement in paragraph 5)

By Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Mexico is doing

everything it can to protect a regional trade agreement with the

U.S. and Canada, the Latin American nation's deputy economy

minister said in an interview published on Friday.

The three neighboring nations, and major partners in

commerce, have entered a trade tussle after U.S. President-elect

Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on the countries to the

north and the south if they did not clamp down on drugs and

migrants coming into the U.S.

Mexico is working on both issues in order to "come to the

table" to negotiate without obstacles, Luis Rosendo Gutierrez

told outlet Inside U.S. Trade.

Since Trump's tariff threat, Mexico has launched an offense

on contraband goods from Asia coming into the country, and

officials seized a record amount of fentanyl. They have also

detained thousands of migrants, vowing to prevent them from

making it north.

In a statement issued late Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden

thanked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the country's

military and law enforcement officials for seizing over twenty

million doses of illicit fentanyl.

Mexican officials have been in touch with Trump allies,

Gutierrez added, though they have not met with incoming

administration officials. The exception is Jamieson Greer,

Trump's tapped trade representative, with whom Gutierrez met

before his nomination.

Trump, as well as some U.S. industry leaders, have accused

Mexico of being a "backdoor" to Chinese goods and investment,

which Mexico has denied.

SCREENING INVESTMENTS

Mexico is looking to take a cue from the U.S., however, in

screening investments coming into the country, Gutierrez said.

Mexico is looking to develop a process similar to the U.S.'

Committee on Foreign Investment, he explained.

When asked if that would affect Chinese automaker BYD's

plans to build a factory in the Latin American country,

Gutierrez responded that Mexico wants "to play with the same

rules" as its trade allies.

Trump had threatened to put a 100% tariff "on every single

car coming across the Mexican border" in response to BYD's

plans, though the carmaker has repeatedly said its plant would

serve the local market and not the United States.

Mexico is considering doling out incentives to draw

manufacturing investments, Gutierrez said, suggesting Mexico

could produce batteries that the U.S. wants to be made

regionally.

CORN COMPLICATIONS

Mexico is also awaiting the result of a dispute panel under

the USMCA trade deal regarding Mexico's restrictions on imports

of genetically-modified corn.

Mexico will comply with the panel's ruling even if

unfavorable toward the nation, Gutierrez said. And depending on

the outcome, Mexico will weigh whether it must make changes to a

proposed constitutional reform that would bar the use of GM corn

for human consumption, the official added.