US-Mexico steel tariffs 'unresolved'

US tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum will remain in place until after a new trade deal is in place, Mexico's economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo said.

US President Donald Trump confirmed Monday (August 27) that the countries had reached agreement on a bilateral trade deal following a year of Nafta 2.0 talks.

But Guajardo said US 25% tariffs on Mexican steel and 10% on aluminum exports, along with retaliatory tariffs imposed on US imports by Mexico, remain in place.

"The issue remains unresolved," the minister said in a press conference at the Mexican embassy in Washington.

Guajardo said he plans to start negotiations aimed at lifting the tariffs once the revised free trade deal is in place, if this takes place before the change of government in Mexico.

Morena party president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) takes office on December 1.

The US steel and aluminum tariffs were imposed on Mexican imports from June 1 after a previous exemption ended.

Mexico's retaliatory tariffs, imposed days later, cover products including US steel, pork, apples and whiskey.

Mexican steel industry chamber Canacero last week confirmed officials had been summoned to Washington to discuss the possibility of replacing tariffs with quotas, as previously agreed by Brazil.