{"id":454583,"date":"2026-05-22T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/?p=454583"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:04:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:04:28","slug":"eu-mexico-agreement-tariffs-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/22\/eu-mexico-agreement-tariffs-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"EU-Mexico agreement officially signed: lower tariffs and greater geopolitical cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The European Union and Mexico have officially signed two agreements designed to radically overhaul their economic and political partnership: the <\/b><\/strong>Modernised Global Agreement<\/b><\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(MGA) and the Interim Trade Agreement (iTA). <\/b><\/strong>The two documents were signed today (22 May) during the 8th EU-Mexico Summit<\/u><\/a>, currently taking place in the capital of the Central American country, and the significance of the event was underscored by the large delegation that travelled from Brussels to meet the country\u2019s president, Claudia Sheinbaum<\/b><\/strong>: in addition to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/b><\/strong>, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa<\/b><\/strong>, the delegation also included the High Representative for EU Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas<\/b><\/strong>, and the Commissioner for Trade, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d<\/b><\/strong>. They all flew to the country south of the United States of America to pursue and reaffirm\u2014this time almost visibly under the nose of President Donald Trump\u2014the EU\u2019s policy of alliances and trade agreements, which has been strengthened precisely by the tariffs and trade restrictions pursued by the White House occupant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe modernised agreements signed today<\/b><\/strong>\u2014commented von der Leyen immediately afterwards\u2014set out the vision for the future shared by the EU and Mexico and will bring benefits to both sides<\/b><\/strong>.\u201d In addition to \u201cboosting trade and investment<\/b><\/strong>\u201d, according to the President of the European Commission, the new agreements will enable cooperation to be expanded across a wide range of policy areas: \u201cTogether we will shape a better future for our citizens and for the planet, finding common ground in the defence of global institutions, the promotion of sustainable growth, and the protection of human rights and gender equality<\/b><\/strong>,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s signing\u2014authorised by an EU Council decision on 11 May<\/u><\/a>\u2014marks a further step towards the official entry into force of the two agreements: the trade agreement will require only final approval from the Parliament and the Council, while the Comprehensive Agreement\u2014as it does not fall within the exclusive competence of the Union\u2014will also need to be ratified by the individual Member States and the Mexican government.<\/p>\n

The trade agreement<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

The provisions on trade form the core of the MGA, to the extent that they have been incorporated into a separate text, the iTA, to speed up their entry into force without the need for approval from individual European capitals.<\/p>\n

The main aim of the agreement is to further liberalise the flow of goods and services<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0between the two sides of the Atlantic and to facilitate investment opportunities in each other\u2019s economies<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0by upholding the EU’s commitments to Mexico under the Global Gateway<\/u><\/a>\u00a0strategy. After all, we are talking about a country that is one of the EU\u2019s main trading partners, with total trade exceeding \u20ac100 billion in 2025<\/b><\/strong>. \u201cOver the last 25 years, trade in goods between us has quadrupled, with over 43,000 European companies exporting to Mexico and more than 11,000 companies operating directly in the country<\/b><\/strong>,\u201d Commissioner \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d noted.<\/p>\n

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The main measure to achieve this massive liberalisation is the elimination of the remaining customs tariffs on certain European exports<\/b><\/strong>. The agri-food sector<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0is expected to benefit in particular, as Mexican tariffs remain very high: 20 per cent on pasta, the same rate on cheese and chocolate, and as much as 45 per cent on eggs and pork products. The so-called \u201cnon-tariff barriers\u201d will also be removed,<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0such as the quantitative limits imposed by Mexico on exports of certain products from Europe.<\/p>\n

The benefits that the agreement is expected to bring to EU food and wine producers do not end there. In line with the provisions of other free trade agreements recently signed by Brussels\u2014such as the one with Australia<\/u><\/a>\u2014protection will be guaranteed for hundreds of European geographical indications<\/b><\/strong>, safeguarding the presence of distinctive regional products on the Mexican market: whilst the old agreement from 2000<\/u><\/a>\u00a0included around a hundred spirits designations, the new rules will increase this number to 232 and extend protection mechanisms to a further 336 wines, beers and food products<\/b><\/strong>. Among the protected brands are Prosciutto di Parma<\/b><\/strong>, Speck del Tirolo<\/b><\/strong>, Roquefort<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0cheese and Spanish Rioja<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0wine.<\/p>\n

In addition to the food industry, the laissez-faire<\/i><\/em>\u00a0principle underpinning the agreement will also be extended to other sectors, such as mechanical engineering<\/b><\/strong>, electronics<\/b><\/strong>, pharmaceuticals<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0and the automotive industry<\/b><\/strong>. In the latter case, provision has been made for the inclusion of a specific \u201cMotor Vehicles Annex<\/b><\/strong>\u201d to facilitate the export of car components manufactured in the EU to Mexico.<\/p>\n

Finally, the agreement aims to strengthen cooperation between the EU and Mexico in the crucial sector of critical raw materials<\/b><\/strong>. In order to break free from dependence on China<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in this area, Brussels is seeking to diversify its supply sources, and Mexico represents, quite literally, a goldmine of opportunities in this regard: it is the EU\u2019s main supplier of calcium fluoride<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0(a mineral of fundamental importance for the production of steel and electric batteries) and exports significant quantities of copper and molybdenum<\/b><\/strong>. In light of this, the agreement includes provisions to make the supply chain \u201ccheaper, more stable and more predictable,\u201d such as the ban on so-called dual pricing<\/b><\/strong>: EU companies will have the right to purchase these strategic materials at the same price paid by local competitors.<\/p>\n

Beyond the economy: the geopolitical dimension of the agreement<\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The EU-Mexico agreement signed today has, as its name suggests, a \u201cglobal\u201d scope, extending beyond the economic sphere alone to encompass\u00a0the entire geopolitical dimension of relations between the Union and the Latin American country<\/b><\/strong>. In an international context characterised by uncertainty, instability, and the crumbling of historic alliances, Europe is looking for new partners <\/b><\/strong>who might be more dependable and whose worldviews align more closely with Brussels’ perspective.\u00a0<\/b><\/strong>To this end, the strengthening of trade ties with third countries is increasingly being used as a tool for geopolitical influence.<\/p>\n

In line with the vision set out by the former Portuguese Prime Minister, the agreement with Mexico also aims to strengthen political cooperation. <\/b><\/strong>To this end, the text includes legally binding commitments to align the two sides of the Atlantic on issues such as environmental protection, human rights, justice, and social cohesion.<\/p>\n

Particular emphasis was placed on gender equality<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0and its link to the economy, with the signing of a joint declaration reaffirming the shared commitment to promoting women\u2019s economic empowerment and rights. Furthermore, President von der Leyen announced an investment of over 4 million pesos to support the empowerment of indigenous women in Mexico<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sottotitolo: The agreement\u2014signed today in Mexico City\u2014will reduce tariffs on European products across several sectors. The greatest benefits will be felt in the agri-food, engineering, automotive, and pharmaceutical sectors. Political commitments are also included, such as a 4 million peso fund for the empowerment of indigenous women<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":454523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705,25707],"tags":[34036,30204,34164,29204,26598,27047,34031,27597,27987,29164,33394,26104,25921],"class_list":["post-454583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-world-politics","tag-accordo-ue-messico","tag-coast-en","tag-commercio-ue","tag-commission-en","tag-dazi-en","tag-eu-en","tag-kallas","tag-sefcovic-en","tag-trade-en-2","tag-trump-en","tag-ue","tag-usa-en-2","tag-von-der-leyen-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454585,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454583\/revisions\/454585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

This was explained by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, during a speech delivered yesterday (21 May) to the Mexican Senate<\/u><\/a>. \u201cMy hope is that most nations will choose cooperation rather than rupture and isolation<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0and that dialogue will prevail between partners who believe in stability and respect for international law,\u201d he said, before emphasising that \u201cthis is certainly the unequivocal will of the EU<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0and the strategy we are implementing, promoting agreements and deepening alliances with all our partners.\u201d<\/p>\n