Mexico

Mexico’s inflation slowed more than expected in the first half of March, as the central bank is set to meet this week to consider a sixth straight rate cut and likely a second straight half-point reduction, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 3.67% from a year prior, below the 3.7% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and less than the 3.81% in the previous two-week period. Core inflation, which leaves out volatile items including food and fuel, also decelerated to 3.56% from 3.66% in late February.

The United States' National Coffee Association asked the Trump administration to exempt the product from any tariffs, saying that the already adopted additional duties on Canada and Mexico could increase U.S. prices up to 50%, Reuters reported. In a letter seen by Reuters, NCA President and CEO Bill Murray told U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump's new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday, along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20%, sparking trade wars that could slam economic growth and lift prices for Americans still smarting from years of high inflation, Reuters reported. The tariff actions, which look set to upend nearly $2.2 trillion in annual U.S. trade with its top three trading partners, went live at 12:01 a.m. (0501 GMT).

Company executives and foreign officials are scrambling to avert the consequences of another tight deadline from President Trump, who has threatened to put stiff tariffs on goods coming in from China, Canada and Mexico starting just after midnight Tuesday. The president describes this as an effort to pressure those countries to stop the flow of deadly drugs and migrants to the United States. But Mr.

President Donald Trump says he plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting next Tuesday, in addition to doubling the 10% universal tariff charged on imports from China, Reuters reported. Posting on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said that illicit drugs such as fentanyl are being smuggled into the United States at “unacceptable levels" and that import taxes would force other countries to crackdown on the trafficking.

President Donald Trump said he expected tariffs planned to take effect on Canada and Mexico to go ahead next month following an initial delay to allow the countries more time to address his concerns over border security, Bloomberg News reported. “The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,” Trump said Monday from the White House during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was asked if the tariffs, which he delayed until March 4, would go into effect.

Mexico’s annual inflation accelerated roughly in line with economists’ forecasts in early February, holding near the central bank’s estimates and keeping chances of a sixth straight interest rate cut in play, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Monday showed consumer prices rose 3.74% in the first two weeks of the month from the year before, just below the 3.77% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and up from the 3.48% reading in late January.

Mexico’s economy posted the biggest quarterly contraction since 2021, with domestic demand and private investment faltering just as tensions with its top trade partner mount, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product fell 0.6% in the three months through December, matching the 0.6% decline reported in preliminary data released by the country’s national statistics institute Jan. 30. From a year ago, GDP expanded 0.5%, less than the flash reading of 0.6%, according to the final data published Friday.

Mexico will start consultations with the US government to explain why it considers the steel and aluminum tariffs ordered by President Donald Trump as “not justified,” said Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Bloomberg News reported. First, Mexico imports more steel and aluminum from the US than it exports to that country, Ebrard argued, and also the Latin American country is the main destination for US exports of steel products, “representing 52% of its global exports at the end of 2024,” he added.

Mexico's inflationary environment is expected to allow policymakers to keep cutting the benchmark interest rate, the head of the Bank of Mexico told Reuters, as the fight to bring down inflation has entered a new phase, Reuters reported. Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, cut the key rate by 50 basis points to 9.50% on Thursday, double the 25-basis-point cuts it had made since it began lowering borrowing costs from a record high of 11.25% in March 2024. "Our work is not over.